Aims

Wars are both remembered and forgotten, while some play an important part in popular memory, others do not. While the significance of some wars as turning points in history are debated by both historians and amongst the wider public, others are not. They are however, all remembered by participants. Despite a growing body of literature on the politics of war commemoration, war remembering and its relationship to the production of history has been relatively unexplored. The meanings that memories of war make are mediated by a wide range of institutions and experiences, including everyday history making. There are a small number of oral history studies that explore the relationship between veterans’ accounts and the way histories have shaped their remembering, but these are far fewer in number than the large numbers of interviews that have been generated from witnesses to warfare. They also tend to follow a similar path of looking at memory as “composed” or “discomposed” by historical narratives, while other aspects neglected, including emotional, tactile, embodied and social remembering.
In this module we will not only consider why wars are recalled or not, but also the ways in which these processes have shaped subsequent experiences as well as historical consciousness. We will use oral histories that can explore war in memory with reference to legal records, auto/biographies, diaries, letters, and other written accounts as well as in the broadcast media. We will look at archived collections including those held by the Imperial War Museum and the British Library as well as smaller collections. In addition, we will explore how oral histories are then used in popular representations of war, including in print, on television and in film. We will undertake case studies that will address our key questions of how wars are remembered by those who survived warfare.
This course is intended:
- To familiarise students with the historiographical literature relating to war and memory, especially after the re-kindling of interest in war memory from the 1980s.
- To further develop students’ engagement with historical research and to guide them in the analysis of oral histories.
- Thereby to enable students to develop their own interpretation of the past based on intersubjective sources.
- To provide an opportunity of investigating in some depth selected problems, including the appraisal of selected source material and the critical examination of current historiography and public representations of the past that make use of oral histories.
- To provide an opportunity to acquire a strong general knowledge of the subject, reading widely and critically in the primary and secondary literature associated with it and to develop the capacity for independent study.

Outline Of Syllabus

The following is a guide only. Actual subjects may differ from those listed.
- How to listen to, and understand oral testimony
- The End of Empire and memories of wars in the politics of the everyday in South Asia?
- Israel, Palestinian - what is remembered and what has been forgotten in shadows of wars past?
- Vietnam, United States and the uses of memory in social movements
- Civil War and forgetting ‘The Troubles’ in UK history
- Iraq, the Gulf Wars, medicine and trauma.
- Rwanda, ethnicity, genocide and contested memories
- Truth and Reconciliation after civil war and military oppression: South Africa and Chile
- Gender, exile and diasporic memories of war
- Kenya and the destruction of the historical record
- Russia and Ukraine and the role of social media in remembering

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Small-group teaching provides students with an opportunity to summarize and ask questions about the recordings and readings, and to improve their ability to listen, reflect, analyse and engage in debate and discussion.
The drop-in surgeries are to support students in assessment preparation.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The first essay tests the students knowledge of the first part of the module and in particular the application of acquired knowledge to a questions about remembering history of warfare.

The second essay will test the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of the oral history of war. It will assess the general knowledge of history and historiography the student has gained throughout the course of the module, as well as the detailed knowledge of a particular case study through the use of relevant oral history accounts, and the student’s ability to draw on these to construct a focused and clearly-expounded argument.

The ability to present a plan clearly and convincingly in oral form will be tested by (non-assessed) pre-prepared presentations in the seminars, and through ongoing group discussion.

Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending semester 1 only are required to finish their assessment while in Newcastle. Where coursework is present, an alternative deadline will be set. Details of the alternative assessment will be provided by the module leader.