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AMBASSADOR OF THE AIR:
THE AIRLINE STEWARDESS, GLAMOUR, AND TECHNOLOGY DURING
THE COLD WAR, 1945-1969
by
Victoria Vantoch
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(HISTORY)
August 2008
Copyright 2008 Victoria Vantoch
Object Description
| Title | Ambassador of the air: the airline stewardess, glamour, and technology during the Cold War, 1945-1969 |
| Author | Vantoch, Victoria |
| Author email | skygirlhistory@gmail.com; vantoch@sbcglobal.net |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | History |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2008-06-24 |
| Date submitted | 2008 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2008-08-11 |
| Advisor (committee chair) |
Ross, Steven Banner, Lois |
| Advisor (committee member) | Echols, Alice |
| Abstract | During the postwar era, the airline stewardess reached her heyday as an icon of American womanhood. This complex icon was portrayed as more than a wife-in-training or a "sex object"; she was also represented as sophisticated, smart, independent career woman. And this airborne icon had international significance. As the post-Sputnik Soviet-American propaganda war intensified, the stewardess also served as increasingly important icon of national identity abroad in the global culture war. Deployed to glamorize technological achievements and to represent national identity overseas, stewardesses served as cultural ambassadors of rival empires -- they became front-line icons for the global culture war and representatives of ideal womanhood at home. In America, the stewardess represented a specifically American version of femininity, whichrelied on being heterosexual, white, middle-class, and consumer-oriented. Meanwhile, Aeroflot portrayed the Soviet stewardess as a worker and loyal Party member, rather than a glamorous wife-to-be. In the Soviet-American propaganda wars, stewardesses were used to represent competing models of womanhood and as a testament to the success of each nation's political system. Thus, this comparison between Soviet and American stewardesses reveals how competing representations of beauty and femininity related to broader political debates over communism and capitalism.; "Ambassador of the Air" explores the stewardess in terms of globalization, the Cold War, and consumerism. By placing the stewardess icon in the context of Cold War culture, this study shows how this profession produced possibilities for renegotiating conservative gender ideals in postwar America. The stewardess from 1945 to 1969 serves as a useful cultural lens for viewing multiple, contradictory forces that influenced changing gender roles in postwar America and offers fresh historical insight into the major gender transition in America from the dominant domestic ideals of the 1950s to the second-wave women's movement of the 1960s. Further, this study raises larger questions about the relationship between gender, beauty, and international politics. |
| Keyword | gender; airlines; stewardess; aviation |
| Coverage date | 1945/1969 |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m1572 |
| Rights | Vantoch, Victoria |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Vantoch-2294 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume32/etd-Vantoch-2294.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | AMBASSADOR OF THE AIR: THE AIRLINE STEWARDESS, GLAMOUR, AND TECHNOLOGY DURING THE COLD WAR, 1945-1969 by Victoria Vantoch A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (HISTORY) August 2008 Copyright 2008 Victoria Vantoch |
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