Full Description
This volume focuses on the uses of collective memory in transatlantic relations between the United States, and Western and Central European nations in the period from the Cold War to the present day. Sitting at the intersection of international relations, history, memory studies and various "area" studies, Memory in Transatlantic Relations examines the role of memory in an international context, including the ways in which policy and decision makers utilize memory; the relationship between trauma, memory and international politics; the multiplicity of actors who shape memory; and the role of memory in the conflicts in post-Cold War Europe.
Thematically organized and presenting studies centered on the U.S., Hungary, France, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the authors explore the built environment (memorials) and performances of memory (commemorations), shedding light on the ways in which memories are mobilized to frame relations between the U.S. and nations in Western and Central Europe. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences and historians with interests in memory studies, foreign policy and international relations.
Contents
Introduction: Toward A Study Of Memory Policy In Transatlantic Relations
Part I: The Politics Of Memory On Two Sides Of The Atlantic
1. The Politics of Public Memory in the United States: An Overview
2. The Politics of History in Europe: National Myths, Musealization and Social Memory
Part II: 'Lafayette, We Are Here': Memory In Us Transatlantic Relations
3: "Time Will Not Dim the Glory of Their Deeds": The Memorial Roots and Transatlantic Legacies of the U.S. Military Cemeteries Abroad
4: Public Memory in US Transatlantic Relations from the Late Cold War through the 1990s
5. Memory in U.S. Transatlantic Relations since 9/11
6: The Aesthetic of War Commemorations in France. The D-Day Celebration in 2014
Part III: Memory In Central European Transatlantic Relations
7. Memory in Czech-U.S. Relations Since the End of the Cold War
8: Memory Unravelling: The 50th Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising in U.S.-Hungarian Relations
Conclusions: A Memory Strategy/Policy for the Future?
