Experiencing 11 November 2018: Commemoration and the First World War Centenary

(Hardback)

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In a unique collection of international and interdisciplinary research, this book focuses on commemorative events around the world on the same day: 11 November 2018, the centenary of Armistice Day, the end of the First World War.

It argues that we need to move beyond discourse, narrative and how historical events are represented to fully understand what commemoration does, socially, politically and culturally. Adopting an experiential reframing treats sensory, affective and emotional feelings as fundamental to how we collectively understand shared histories, and through them, shared identities. The volume features 15 case studies from ten countries, covering a variety of settings and national contexts specific to the First World War.

Together the chapters demonstrate that a new conceptualisation of commemoration is needed: one that attends to how it feels.

Reviews

"The proposed collection offers an impressive comparative approach to the study of war commemoration... I would recommend this to anyone doing research on war memory, and commemorative activities in particular."- Geoffrey White, University of Hawaii, USA

"A refreshing anthropology of a moment of commemoration... it should reach across several disciplinary areas." - Andrew Hoskins, University of Glasgow, UK

Author Bio

Shanti Sumartojo is Associate Professor of Design Research and a member of the Emerging Technologies Research Lab at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.