Performing Masculinity: Calgary Men in the Great War

Andrew J. Hawkes, The University of Western Ontario

Abstract

This thesis explores the masculinity of soldiers from Calgary during the Great War using a theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity. The first chapter establishes a normative masculine standard in Calgary using local newspaper coverage of battalion departure parades. These events were rituals that celebrated militarized masculinity and reinforced the hegemonic ideal that existed across the British Empire in the early 20^th century. The second chapter assesses how masculinity was performed in letters during the war. Although men strove to embody the masculine ideal, their letters were not uniform endorsements of martial masculinity. The third chapter analyzes how hegemonic masculinity shaped men’s memoirs and illuminates the enduring strength of the wartime masculine ideal. The hegemonic masculinity that existed in 1914 which celebrated physical prowess, military service, bravery, emotional control, and endurance, was not destroyed during the years of the war, but it did not survive unchanged.