糖心TV

Every year on Armistice Day, the British public are invited (some would say compelled) to remember the military sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of (mostly) young men during the First and Second World Wars, as well as the hundreds more who have died in more recent conflicts in the Falklands/Malvinas, Afghanistan and Iraq. In recent years this obligation to remember has appeared to increase, with the annual Poppy Appeal growing in size, scope and ‘celebritisation’. Each year sees a parade of public figures celebrating the actions of the armed forces, proclaiming them as the ‘real’ heroes. Each year also sees the minor scandal of other public figures who refuse or forget to wear a poppy, or fail to demonstrate appropriate respect for those who given the ‘ultimate sacrifice’. However, with the outset of WWI now over one hundred years ago, fewer and fewer veterans from WWII still alive, and more recent conflicts mired in controversy surrounding their legality and/or success, what exactly is it that we are being compelled to remember? In remembering certain stories, certain bodies, what stories and (gendered and raced) bodies are forgotten? Furthermore, for those who are intimately connected to the armed forces – either as serving members, veterans or as the family members of service personnel – how do they traverse the public and militarised politics of remembering and forgetting, and their own deeply personal and emotional connections to war and those who enact it?

Participants:

Dr. Victoria Basham, Cardiff University

Dr. Sarah Bulmer, University of Exeter

Dr. Rhys Crilley, PAIS

Dr. Anthony King, PAIS

Dr. Julia Welland, PAIS

Wednesday 16 November, 12.30-14.00, H5.45 (Humanities Building).