Uncle Sam Wants You... to Support Your Local Army Community: Critical Discourse Analysis of the Army Community Covenant from a Genealogical Framework

This paper examines the Army Community Covenant, a formal document intended to strengthen the official and unofficial relationships between U.S. Army posts in the United States with their surrounding civilian communities. Critical Discourse Analysis is applied to trace the genealogy of the verbal and visual constructs and semiotics of the document, from the rhetoric of George Washington that acculturated the Continental Army to the present day, and considering the perspectives of nationalism and familial relationships in the deliberate selection of key terminologies. This research concludes with the recognition of the documents' potential effects, both positive and negative, upon its intended participants and audience, and proposes extensions for further research in the areas of the U.S. Army and army families, as well as the perceptions of identity and struggles for representation that exist.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Department dc:contributor.department

Political Science

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Lunday, Erin B.

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Thadhani, Rupa G.
• Luke, Timothy W.

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Nelson, Scott G.

• Army Family Covenant
• Imagined Community
• Genealogy
• Critical Discourse
• Army Community Covenant

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Dc Identifier Other

etd-05102010-133829

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/77005