Greg waters, New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Foundation
Proposal Type
Panel
Seeking
- Seeking Additional Presenters
- Seeking General Feedback and Interest
Related Topics
- Memory
- Museums/Exhibits
- Public Engagement
Abstract
The Vietnam War has long been an open wound on the national psyche. The continuous flow of documentaries, books, academic papers, and other media confirms that our country has not yet made peace with the conflict in Vietnam. The same is true of other wars and military operations. What role do war memorials and museums dedicated to military history play in the creation of collective memory? How do we ensure that our work creates or influences conversations that lead to repair, both for individuals and for society as a whole? How can our work help our communities reconcile with the realities of our past and how can our work make a positive impact on the future?
Description
I am seeking others whose work in some way relates to war memorials and/or war museums. I want to create a panel of three or four individuals that will explore how this work and these spaces influence collective memory and the national narrative, especially as it relates to more problematic areas of American history. War memorials and museums fit hand in hand with the topic of repair work and I want to dig in to what our work really means. Are we helping? Are we hurting?
I welcome potential panelists from all areas of American history. I am also flexible with the size and scope of the topic and am open to suggestions regarding what others in the field might find interesting and worthwhile related to the memorialization of war.
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Greg Waters, [email protected]
All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2018. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.
Hi Greg,
My name is Michael Koncewicz and I am a historian who currently works at the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives at NYU. From 2010-2014, I worked at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum as a Special Assistant to the Director. While I worked there, I took part in numerous discussions and a few projects related to the Library’s presentation of Vietnam. I also have very early plans to work on a book project on representations of the 1960s and 1970s at public history sites. Let me know if you think I’m someone who makes sense for this particular panel.
Best,
Michael
This is a great topic and my hunch is that you may find that narrowing it down in some way might help to contain the many questions it raises about repair and national consciousness. Zeroing in on that era might be a good way to corral things, and I wonder if looking specifically at the 60s/70s era would be a good way to do that. There’s an interesting double layer here of (a) memories and monuments that focus on the 60s/70s, including Vietnam but also so many other things, and (b) memories and monuments created during that era. (For example, after the heightened awareness about Confederate monuments over the past year, more people have realized that some of these were actually erected during the civil rights era, as a pushback against demands for greater racial equity.) That time period in itself contained so many efforts at social, political, environmental, economic, and other types of repair, and could give you a very rich site for asking these big questions.
Interesting to consider how/if we “repair” monuments to wars when the outcomes change. I’m thinking most recently, of course, about Korea. Best authority on Korean war memory, and war memory more broadly in your home state, is Levi Fox. I bet he’d like to chat about your panel. You can find him through his business website: http://www.jerseyshoretours.com
Hi Greg, this is a very interesting topic, especially as we exit the centiannial of WWI. I agree with Cathy–your scope is large and narrowing it would allow for more indepth discussion. However, if you chose to keep the wider scope, I wonder if this panel would be better suited in the roundtable format?
For panelists, you may consider reaching out to the Military History Affinity Group that is managed by AASLH. There are a number folks there that I’m sure would be interested in contributing. http://community.aaslh.org/military/
I also work at the National WWII Museum and would be happy to chat more about your thoughts.
Some good comments and interest above! I’d like to through out there the idea of doing a structured conversation for this topic. There seems to be a lot of interest and I really like that format for being a way to include a lot of voices and get feedback on the ideas and questions that you’re raising.
This could be just on the Vietnam War (with a presentation about public memory in Vietnam), about the way problematic American wars have been remembered or an international comparison where the US and the Vietnam War are compared to Germany, France/Algeria, etc. Depending on what you decide on, I might help you find additional (also international) presenters (also through the International Federation for Public History).
Sorry, for some reason the rest of my name was cut
Connecticut has the Veterans History Project at Central Connecticut State University and the Iwo Jima Memorial & Park in New Britain. Some 100 men from Connecticut died at the Battle of Iwo Jima and the Memorial has an eternal flame that burns onsite. There are Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monuments, for instance, in Hartford (Memorial Arch) and New Haven and they are well-known and utilized in those communities. Many other war monuments are dotted throughout the state. Interest will be high for this panel.
If you are interested how we commemorate other wars such as Revolutionary War, please contact me!