Seeking refuge: Western American women writers of the Cold War Era, 1949--1994

My dissertation, "Seeking Refuge: Western American Women Writers of the Cold War Era, 1949--1994," explores the literary and cultural history of a traditionally masculine-coded region of the country by women writers and film directors whose voices have often, until recently, been marginalized. This study takes into account the diverse visions that have not only contributed to our understanding of a unique historical moment but, in many ways, shaped and/or questioned some of the myths about gender, violence, power, and nationhood that have flourished in America for the past century.;Rather than conflate Cold War political agendas with monomythic male frontier superheroes, writers like Terry Tempest Williams, Jean Hegland, Ana Castillo, Deirdre McNamer, and Leslie Marmon Silko, and filmmakers Maggie Greenwald, Lynne Littman, and Nancy Kelly instead render human domestic or wilderness spaces into microcosms of global fears. By identifying sources of strength in gender and in connection to nature, these artists seek to reverse global and domestic violence and promote healing. The authors interpret the destruction of the natural world as a mirror for US political or military aggression against other countries (or sometimes against other Americans).;Women were generally responding to what was happening in the homes of American families during this era of world anxiety, as well as to the terrifying enthusiasm of the mass media for the dawning of the nuclear age. In all of the works by women, the relationship between man and woman is mirrored by that of the political superpowers; both situations are taut, stalemated, volatile, and potentially cataclysmic. The works discussed in "Seeking Refuge" also critique American military agendas and the damage that results in our own homespaces from practices such as nuclear missile testing and uranium mining. Drawing on multiple genres to trace the widely divergent conceptions of the Cold War by American writers---including the novel, nature writing, historical documents, films, photography, and anthropology---I also explore the connections between the fictional and historical storytelling that has grown up around the Cold War and its relation to gender.