Workshop: Theaters of war
Workshop: Theaters of war
IVth Meeting of Young Historians of Contemporary History (Asociación de Historia Contemporánea)
With too many aims, war has always occupied an important place in the collective imagination of societies. This was more evident with the rise of masses to politics and, even more, in our current capitalist societies. That is to say, the war as object of consume. Therefore, we believe that is crucial the study and understanding of the stories and images produced by and -maybe most importantly- for the conflicts (as well as it's impact), from a wide and open-minded cultural perspective which integrate the highest number of speeches, views, and realities. In that sense, we stand for a critic analysis on the language included in the most diverse sources: politics, mass media, literature, music, museum materials, posters or propaganda, photography and of course memories. All this from a critic analysis of those language forms.
However, based on this method we would like to focus on another questions that we see as crucial ones, an ideal complement for the first line noted above: war experience itself, where we can focus on some key aspects as the very combat experience and the psychical strategies of survival used by the combatants; the stories (memories) written by veterans and the sense of this speeches; violence as transforming instrument and reality producer; veterans reinstatement in civil life; women's place and image at war; ethnic conflict, civil war, and identities construction; the place of civilians who take side and the ones who not; conquered space "reterritorialization" through the construction of repressive architecture and commemorative monuments; treatment of death; the relationship between front and rearguard; subjects and speeches legitimating the war; etc.
In that sense, from these two great axes we have believed we will have a wider view, closer to potential debates and the comprehension of their common point: the war.
Submission date for proposals (title and 100 words max.): January 15th, 2013.
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Coordinators and Contact:
Miguel Alonso Ibarra and David Alegre Lorenz
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona