Indigenous Peoples and the Second World War: The Politics, Experiences and Legacies of War in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand

Description

During the Second World War, Indigenous people in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada mobilised en masse to support the war effort, despite withstanding centuries of colonialism. Their roles ranged from ordinary soldiers fighting on distant shores, to soldiers capturing Japanese prisoners on their own territory, to women working in munitions plants on the home front. R. Scott Sheffield and Noah Riseman examine Indigenous experiences of the Second World War across these four settler societies. Informed by theories of settler colonialism, martial race theory and military sociology, they show how Indigenous people and their communities both shaped and were shaped by the Second World War. Particular attention is paid to the policies in place before, during and after the war, highlighting the ways that Indigenous people negotiated their own roles within the war effort at home and abroad. Cover Half Title Title Page Imprints Page Contents List of Figures List of Tables Foreword Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction Settler Colonialism Historiography Transnational and Comparative History Martial Race Theory Book Layout Part I Context 1 Indigenous Peoples and Settler Colonialism to 1900 Confrontation Carceration Assimilation Conclusion: Legal Status Circa 1901 2 Indigenous Peoples and Settler Militaries, 1900–1945 From Indigenous Warriors to Indigenous Soldiers The Great War Interwar Second World War Conclusion Part II The War Years, 1939–1945 3 Engagement: Indigenous Voluntary Military Service The Nature of Indigenous Military Service Rejecting Enlistees Segregated versus Integrated Service Message and Meaning of Indigenous Voluntary Service Conclusion 4 Experiences of Military Life Expanded Interaction and Acculturation Adjusting to Military life Segregation Proposals to Aid Transition Transitions to Service Life Acceptance and Respect Combat Experiences Conclusion 5 Mobilising Indigeneity: Indigenous Knowledge, Language and Culture in the War Effort Real and Perceived Fighting Spirit/Ability The 28th (Maori) Battalion Indigenous Language: Code Talkers Home Defence and Soldier-Bodies: Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion and Pacific Coast Militia Rangers Home Defence through Tradition: Alaska and Australia Informal Home Defence Conclusion 6 Home Front Experiences Continuity and Discontinuity of Discrimination For Those Left Behind Urbanisation Participation in Voluntarism Women, Gender and Sexuality War and Development Invade Remote Regions Home-Front, Bombings and Evacuations Conclusion 7 Contesting Engagement: Conscription and the Limits of Indigenous Collaboration Common Factors Underlying Wartime Resistance or Indifference Settler-Indigenous Relations in Wartime Indigenous Lands and War Purposes Voluntary Military Service Conscription Conclusion Part III Post-War Reform 8 Homecomings: Transition to Peace, Veterans’ Return and Access to Veterans’ Benefits Wartime to Peacetime for Indigenous Populations on the Home Front Homecomings Veterans’ Benefits Conclusion 9 Rehabilitating Assimilation: Post-War Reconstruction and Indigenous Policy Reform Indigenous Politicisation and Activism at War’s End Settler Attitudes towards Indigenous Peoples Post-War Reform Conclusion Conclusion Bibliography Manuscript, Archival and Library Collections Unpublished Theses Books, Book Chapters and Journal Articles Index