This book analyses the letters of marginalised groups of World War I soldiers - including Black, Indian and disabled ex-servicemen - from a linguistic perspective, looking at issues such as descriptions of disability, identity and migration, dealing with minority groups who have long been rendered invisible, and exploring how these writers position themselves in relation to the 'other'. The author makes use of a corpus-assisted approach to examine identity construction and performance, shedding light on a previously under-explored demographic. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of World War I history, language and identity, psychological and physical disability, as well as readers seeking a fresh angle on a key period of 20th century history.
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Compiling the corpus.- Chapter 3: The letter: Metacommunicative features in colonial correspondence .- Chapter 4: Post-war letters to the Lord Mayor of Liverpool: Epistolary constructions of identity.- Chapter 5: Historical learning disabilities: linguistic abilities of ex-servicemen with imbecility, feeblemindedness and mental deficiency in the Ministry of Pension files.- Chapter 6: Psychological disability, word use and identity: language in ex-servicemens letters to the Ministry of Pensions.- Chapter 7: Keywords in the DSM manuals: an analysis of psychological disorders of warfare.- Chapter 8: Europe through Indian Eyes: constructions of foreignness in Indian soldiers letters.- Chapter 9: Conclusion.
Manel Herat is Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at Liverpool Hope University, UK.
Within the cultural imagination, soldiers in action are so often elevated to a superhuman, heroic status. Owing to bigoted attitudes towards disability and ethnicity, however, the very same people can be made to feel subhuman if al£Q
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