Date of Award

Summer 2012

Degree Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Anthropology and Sociology

Committee Chair

Bridget Hayden

Committee Chair Department

Anthropology and Sociology

Committee Member 2

James Flanagan

Committee Member 2 Department

Anthropology and Sociology

Committee Member 3

Jeffrey Kaufmann

Committee Member 3 Department

Anthropology and Sociology

Abstract

Few people realize that during World War II, Camp Shelby in south Mississippi was a detention site for German prisoners of war (POWs) where the United States government engaged in reeducation efforts to de-Nazify soldiers in order to create a democratic Germany after the war. The U.S. War Department hoped the success of this program would create allies and prevent another war in the future. Despite the reeducation program being in all POW camps in the U. S., Camp Shelby was distinctive due to the racial politics of Mississippi during the height of the Jim Crow era. It is also unique because there is evidence of resistance despite claims that the POWs were submissive to American domination during their captivity. This research seeks to further knowledge of Mississippi history with an anthropological interpretation drawing on Foucault's studies ofbiopolitics and the role of the prisoner of war camp within the "carceral archipelago" (Foucault, 1995).

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