Remembering and Forgetting Wars: Memorialization of the Global War on Terrorism in the US

Abstract

This paper offers an insight into the efforts made by war memorial organizations to remember those who served in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) and how the war is manifested in US cultural memory. To exemplify the ways the war is already being remembered by smaller communities and what upcoming plans to memorialize the GWOT in a nation-wide context look like, several memorials are analyzed according to the emotions they elicit and how these influence the memorials’ narratives. The article is concluded by examining which elements of the memorials’ war narratives are highlighted, and which are omitted.

Keywords

• war
• memorial
• cultural memory
• military
• remembrance
• commemoration
• forgetting
• soldiers
• terrorism