Graduation Year
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.A.
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Degree Granting Department
School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies
Major Professor
Holly Matthew Dunn, Ph.D.
Committee Member
Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi, Ph.D.
Committee Member
David Johnson, Ph.D.
Keywords
assemblage, biopower, fertility, hegemony, masculinity, military
Abstract
The aim of this thesis was to propose and apply a materialist approach to “Vietnam Syndrome” found at the intersection of masculinity, disability, and state power as it manifests in modern military strategy. Through an analysis of the physical veteran body rendered infertile from Agent Orange poisoning during the Vietnam War, the material conditions of infertility are found to have threatened the hegemonic masculinity on which the military relied for its justification and continuation amongst young American men. The turn to technological warfare was intended to remedy the insufficiency of the military body, but the solution was costly and ineffective in bringing about success in the goals of wars that followed. The infertility of the Vietnam veterans is reflected at the scale of the state where the U.S. military since 1973 has been struggling to effectively intervene on the global stage. This analysis helps to frame the material conditions which threatened hegemonic, embodied masculinities as the locus of modern military struggle and suggest that intervention into the body might serve as the next step for the industry.
Scholar Commons Citation
Haley, Moriah M., "Vietnam Syndrome and the Genetic Consequences of Agent Orange Poisoning: A Materialist Approach" (2025). USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/etd/10956
