Constructions of Conflict

This collection of essays explores the ways in which memories of social, political and military conflicts have been transmitted by twentieth- and twenty-first-century European historiography, culture and media, and the diverse representations, or constructions of conflict, that have emerged as a result. Encompassing world wars, national conflicts, civil protests and acts of terrorism from 1914 to 2009, the volume examines constructions of conflict in multiple national contexts, including East/West Germany, post-reunification Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Great Britain and Iran. Individual essays investigate the roles played by agents and mediators of memory, from protesters, soldiers, policemen and sports officials to historians, journalists, writers and bloggers. In the process, they explore the complex interaction between state-sanctioned memories, political memories and personal recollections. The nature and influence of different carriers of memory are also discussed, such as historical narratives, commemorative ceremonies, memorials, literature, films, the new media of the World Wide Web and mobile phones, and visual representations including graphic novels and photographs. Organised around three key themes - -public and private discourses of memory-, -counter-memories- and -commemorative practices- - the contributions to this volume engage in a vibrant and instructive dialogue about contemporary processes of representing and constructing conflict.

Katharina Hall is Senior Lecturer in German at Swansea University. Kathryn N. Jones is Lecturer in French at Swansea University.

Contents: Katharina Hall/Kathryn N. Jones: Introduction. Constructions of Conflict: Transmitting Memories of the Past in European Historiography, Culture and Media - Mary Fulbrook: Patterns of Memory - Jennifer Cameron: Categorically Complicit: Generation Discourse in Contemporary German Literature - Rachel Woodward/K. Neil Jenkings/Trish Winter: Negotiating Military Identities: British Soldiers, Memory and the Use of Personal Photographs - Anna Reading: Globital Witnessing: Mobile Memories of Atrocity and Terror from London and Iran - Claire Gorrara: Conflicted Masculinities: Figures of Resistance in French Crime Fiction - M. Cinta Ramblado Minero: History, Memory, Fiction: Las trece rosas and Discourses of Recovery in Contemporary Spain - Noel D. Cary: Memory Games: Olympic Discourses in Divided Germany - Monica Jansen/Inge Lanslots: Mediating Memories of the Genoa G8 through the Death of Carlo Giuliani - Vanda Wilcox: Public Ceremonies, Private Mourning: The First World War in Roman Memory - John Foot: Divided Memories in Italy: Stories from the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries - Patrick Finney: D-Day 2004: Passing the Torch to History?