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Cultural Trauma, Collective Memory and the Vietnam War

Ring, Magnus LU ; Eyerman, Ron and Madigan, Todd (2017) In Croatian Political Science Review 54(1-2). p.11-31
Abstract
Part of a wider project on how the Vietnam War (1945-1975) is remembered by three key collectives, Vietnamese communists, Vietnamese Americans and the United States, this article focuses primarily on the latter. Using the theory of cultural trauma as its framework, this is a study in trauma and collective memory, its impact and the social processes through which such memory is constructed and maintained. The central point is that collective memory is an active agent in explaining why individuals and collectivities act as they do. It is argued that collective memory is represented and reproduced in narrative form through various means, such as oral telling, literature, music, drama, film, monuments, museum installations and commemorative... (More)
Part of a wider project on how the Vietnam War (1945-1975) is remembered by three key collectives, Vietnamese communists, Vietnamese Americans and the United States, this article focuses primarily on the latter. Using the theory of cultural trauma as its framework, this is a study in trauma and collective memory, its impact and the social processes through which such memory is constructed and maintained. The central point is that collective memory is an active agent in explaining why individuals and collectivities act as they do. It is argued that collective memory is represented and reproduced in narrative form through various means, such as oral telling, literature, music, drama, film, monuments, museum installations and commemorative events. Through such media and related ritual practices, the stories and myths that congeal as collective memory serve as a foundation upon which collective identity rests. The defeat in Vietnam continues to haunt American collective memory and has yet to be reduced to history. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Croatian Political Science Review
volume
54
issue
1-2
pages
11 - 31
publisher
Fakultet politickih Znanosti
external identifiers
  • scopus:85021315390
ISSN
0032-3241
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
28236874-9be9-425e-9b88-468cee17fe09
alternative location
http://hrcak.srce.hr/183298
date added to LUP
2017-06-28 15:00:08
date last changed
2023-04-07 18:27:09
@article{28236874-9be9-425e-9b88-468cee17fe09,
  abstract     = {{Part of a wider project on how the Vietnam War (1945-1975) is remembered by three key collectives, Vietnamese communists, Vietnamese Americans and the United States, this article focuses primarily on the latter. Using the theory of cultural trauma as its framework, this is a study in trauma and collective memory, its impact and the social processes through which such memory is constructed and maintained. The central point is that collective memory is an active agent in explaining why individuals and collectivities act as they do. It is argued that collective memory is represented and reproduced in narrative form through various means, such as oral telling, literature, music, drama, film, monuments, museum installations and commemorative events. Through such media and related ritual practices, the stories and myths that congeal as collective memory serve as a foundation upon which collective identity rests. The defeat in Vietnam continues to haunt American collective memory and has yet to be reduced to history.}},
  author       = {{Ring, Magnus and Eyerman, Ron and Madigan, Todd}},
  issn         = {{0032-3241}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1-2}},
  pages        = {{11--31}},
  publisher    = {{Fakultet politickih Znanosti}},
  series       = {{Croatian Political Science Review}},
  title        = {{Cultural Trauma, Collective Memory and the Vietnam War}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/27534788/Politicka_misao_1_2_2017_11_31_EYERMAN_MADIGAN_RING.pdf}},
  volume       = {{54}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}