scholarly journals Coping with traumatic memories: Second World War veterans' experiences of social support in relation to the narrative coherence of war memories

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN J. BURNELL ◽  
PETER G. COLEMAN ◽  
NIGEL HUNT
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Narrative Coherence ◽  
World War ◽  
War Veterans ◽  
Traumatic Memories ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
Second World

ABSTRACTThis paper reports a qualitative study that used narrative analysis to explore how social support helps many armed-services veterans cope with traumatic memories. The analysis was carried out on two levels, that of narrative form (level of narrative coherence), argued to be indicative of reconciliation, and narrative content (themes of social support), which allowed exploration of the types of social support experienced by veterans with coherent, reconciled and incoherent narratives. Ten British male Second World War veterans were interviewed regarding their war experiences, presence of traumatic memories, and experiences of social support from comrades, family and society. Different patterns of support were qualitatively related to coherent, reconciled and incoherent narratives. Veterans with coherent narratives were no less likely to have experienced traumatic events than those with reconciled or incoherent narratives, but they reported more positive perceptions of their war experience and of the war's outcomes, more positive experiences of communication with family in later life, and more positive perceptions of societal opinion. The results are discussed in relation to how veterans can be supported by family and friends to reconcile their traumatic memories, thus to lessen the burden in later life when vital support resources may be unavailable.

scholarly journals “Making Nonsense of the Little Categories”: Slaughterhouse-Five and The Memoirs of a Survivor as autobiographical science fiction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Georgia Hight
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Living Room ◽  
World War ◽  
Time And Space ◽  
Traumatic Memories ◽  
Non Fiction ◽  
Southern Rhodesia ◽  
The City ◽  
Second World

<p>Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) and Doris Lessing’s The Memoirs of a Survivor (1974) are both novels that blend autobiography with science fiction. In a review of Vonnegut’s Mother Night, Lessing writes that he “makes nonsense of the little categories”. The same applies to Lessing. These two novels live in the porous borders between genre—between fiction and non-fiction.  Vonnegut writes that he can’t remember much of his experiences in the firebombing of Dresden in the Second World War. The war novel he writes about them has a protagonist who is “unstuck in time”. I frame my discussion of Slaughterhouse around problems of temporal and narrative ordering. Through use of fractured time, repetitions, and the chronotope, Vonnegut finds a way to express his missing and traumatic memories of the war.  Lessing’s memories are of her early childhood in Persia and Southern Rhodesia. These memories are warped, claustrophobic, and difficult to articulate. Like Slaughterhouse, Memoirs fractures time and space. I organise my discussion of Lessing’s novel around the latter, focusing on a literalised porous border: her dissolving living room wall. Borders and portals between spaces in Memoirs blend the dystopian, science-fiction world of the city with the world of Lessing’s memories; dreams with reality; and the static with the dynamic.  I pose several answers to the question of why science fiction and autobiography. A shared occupation of the two authors was a concern for the madness and dissolution of society, and science fiction engages in a tradition of expressing these concerns. Additionally, Vonnegut and Lessing use the tools of a genre in which it is acceptable for time and space to be warped or fractured. These tools not only allow for the expression of memories that are fragmented, difficult, and half forgotten, but produce worlds that mirror the form of these personal memories.</p>

Life stories: biography and creativity

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-44
Author(s):  
Paul Thompson ◽  
Ken Plummer ◽  
Neli Demireva
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
World War ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
And Gender ◽  
University Expansion ◽  
Second World

This chapter traces the engine of the pioneers' success and discusses their earlier lives, hinting or reflecting on how these experiences may have shaped their research. It begins by analyzing how the pioneers' were influenced by the communities where they grew up. Looking at the pioneers' families as a whole, even though this generation for which unprecedented university expansion brought rare opportunities for upward mobility, the chapter examines the pioneers' working-class families and old Oxbridge intellectual aristocracy. It notes that some of the key factors which brought them opportunities were due to national social changes and international events. The chapter also looks at how the older generation generally benefitted from Second World War experiences that took them out of their social-class cocoon. The chapter then discusses the pioneers who chose to explore other cultures rather than to research their own communities. It emphasizes social class injustice, racism, and gender injustice.

Forgetting your mother tongue: the effect of early separation on the socioeconomic position

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-132
Author(s):  
Cecilia Heilala ◽  
Erkki Komulainen ◽  
Nina Santavirta
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Position ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Postal Questionnaire ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
World War ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Temporary Migrants ◽  
Second World

Purpose – During Second World War 48,628 Finnish children were evacuated to Sweden and temporarily placed in foster care. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between the parental socioeconomic position (SEP), evacuation, language acquisition, and education and to analyze how these are related to SEP in separated compared to non-separated in later life. Design/methodology/approach – The sample consists of 749 separated and 1,535 non-separated persons. Pre-evacuation data on the separated were collected from the archives. The non-separated were matched for age, gender, place of birth, and mother tongue Finnish/Swedish. Data from both cohorts were collected by a postal questionnaire in autumn 2005. Stratified hierarchical regression analysis was used to predict SEP. Findings – The results show that the SEP and education of those Finnish-speaking evacuees who had lost their mother tongue when returning home were lower compared to the Finnish-speaking non-evacuees. On the contrary, the SEP of the Swedish-speaking evacuees was higher than of the Swedish-speaking non-evacuees. Research limitations/implications – Selection bias and attrition bias is a concern when interpreting the results. Practical implications – The study shows the importance of supporting the mother tongue of temporary migrants while staying in the host country and of taking actions for language policy planning when they return back home. Originality/value – This study uses data on a large child evacuation operation during Second World War to study how unaccompanied evacuation and loss of mother tongue affect SEP in later life. To the knowledge no such study has been conducted.

scholarly journals Correspondence, Camaraderie, and Community: The Second World War for a Mother and Son

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Gann
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Home Front ◽  
World War ◽  
Prisoner Of War ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
Initial Attitude ◽  
War Experience ◽  
And Coping ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second World

Erle Sinclair Miller enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1940. While his initial attitude towards the conflict was one of personal invincibility and an eagerness for action, much of Miller's Second World War experience was spent in five prisoner of war camps, enduring physical as well as psychological hardship. The following thesis engages with the contents of the Miller Collection, a series of 297 letters, two prisoner of war journals, one flying log book and one scrapbook, in order to reveal the details of a young man's experiences of war and the critical relationship he retained with his mother in Canada. The key themes in this analysis, that of identity, community, and coping, are drawn out in each of the following three chapters, and offer an intimate appreciation of the impact that the Second World war had on families, sharper insight into the dynamics of the RCAF and prisoner of war experiences, the intersection of communities of war, and the role of mothers on the home front.

scholarly journals Żeniu! Dziecino droga! Historia znajomości łączniczki AK i jej dowódcy Franciszka Studzińskiego

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 71-91
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Kułagowska Silva
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
Personal Assistant ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World

Tekst opowiada historię komendanta Okręgu AK terenu tarnopolskiego pułkownika Armii Krajowej Franciszka Studzińskiego i jego łączniczki oraz osobistej sekretarki Eugenii Starościn, działaczki AK oraz – w okresie późniejszym – organizacji Wolność i Niezawisłość. W artykule omówiono aktywność konspiracyjną obu postaci w okresie II wojny światowej oraz ich powojenne losy naznaczone przesłuchaniami, więzieniem, licznymi przeprowadzkami i problemami ze znalezieniem pracy. Zhenya! My love! The story of the relationship between a Home Army military courier and her commander, Franciszek Studziński The article presents the story of the Home Army colonel in the district of Tarnopol, Franciszek Studziński, and his courier and personal assistant Eugenia (Zhenya) Starościn, an activist of the Home Army and in subsequent years of the Freedom and Independence organization. The article presents their conspiracy activity during the Second World War and their post-war experiences: interrogations, imprisonment, numerous relocations, and problems with finding employment.

scholarly journals The Union of South Africa Propaganda Campaigns during the World War II

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anli Le Roux
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
South African ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
War Effort ◽  
The Media ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
Strategic Imperative ◽  
Second World

THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGNS DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (1939–1945). Part 1: The African Mirror Newsreels IntroductionAccording to Danny Schechter, when one fights a war, "there is a need to create and maintain ties of sentiment between soldiers and citizens, as well as a need for popular mobilisation and media support" (2004:25). During the Second World War the case was no different in South Africa. The Union of South Africa propaganda campaigns in all its forms were aimed at "motivating, managing, and feeding the media" - which in turn fed the nation. This was a key strategic imperative to try to build, strengthen and maintain a consensus and united front behind the war effort (Schechter, 2004:25).The significance of contemporary filmic visualisation or off-screen enactments of war experiences and their place in South African historiography of the Second World War has long been an under-researched area....

Remembering Seonjeong Yi Lebrun: Mourning with narratives of care

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunji Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Comfort Women ◽  
World War ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Unexpected Death ◽  
Traumatic Memories ◽  
Self Study ◽  
New Form ◽  
Imperial Japanese Army ◽  
Second World

It is hard to coherently narrate traumatic memories as they are intensely emotional and fragmented. I created this narrative inquiry in the hope of enacting care and performing mourning for the unexpected death of Seonjeong Yi Lebrun (1983–2017). Seonjeong was a Korean-born art education researcher in Canada whose work exemplified how artistic approaches to narrative evoke empathy and connectivity. Her research spanned arts-based self-study to participatory action research about comfort women (Korean sex slaves for the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War). In performing mourning for Seonjeong through examining her research, I endeavour to have my research possibly initiate a new form of arts-based collective care for her, comfort women and those suffering from other forms of trauma.

Media memorial discourses and memory struggles in Slovenia: Transforming memories of the Second World War and Yugoslavia

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 433-450
Author(s):  
Maruša Pušnik
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Analysis ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Public Realm ◽  
The European Union ◽  
World War ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Daily Newspaper ◽  
The Common ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

The radical break between two national contexts in 1991, when Slovenia seceded from Yugoslavia, and Slovenia’s integration into the European Union in 2004, has brought changes to the collective memory of the Slovenian nation. In this article, I investigate how Delo, a major Slovenian daily newspaper, has been involved in memory struggles to present new memorial discourses that are in accordance with the new national politics. A large part of the common Yugoslav past has been reinvented for the present political and ideological purposes of European integration, whereby the Second World War and the Partisan movement, which once signified a common Yugoslav life, have become a contested issue. The focus of the critical narrative analysis is put on those general narrative templates that underlie specific news narratives about the Second World War and socialist Yugoslavia. Over the last 25 years, dominant media have strengthened memory struggles in the Slovenian public realm and have created revisionist narratives of the Second World War and the post-war past.

Charles Reith Man of Principle 1886–1957

1981 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-72
Author(s):  
Clifford R. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
First World War ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Many ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

One of the best horses ever to come from the stable of police research since Major Melville Lee. Determined, dedicated, forthright, provocative and a man of the highest integrity, he was a peculiarly sensitive interpreter of the hitherto neglected 18th and 19th century British Police affairs of a kind who had no equal. His First World War experiences and of the many races and nationalities coupled with his deep and thorough researches into the origin of the British Police Principles upon which the British Police is based which can be found in all his works he had a fervent desire to see those principles applied on an international scale — prompted him to write “Police Principles and the Problem of War”, which was published by Oxford University Press shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War.

Alfred Edward Ringwood. 19 April 1930–12 November 1993

1998 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 351-362
Author(s):  
D. H. Green
Keyword(s):  
Extended Family ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The Family ◽  
Paternal Grandfather ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

Ted Ringwood was born in Kew, an inner Melbourne suburb, on 19 April 1930, an only child in a family that identified strongly with Australia and with Melbourne in particular. Both his parents were Australian, but his mother's parents had come to Australia as Presbyterian emigrants from Ulster. His paternal grandfather was born in New Zealand, his paternal greatgrandfather in Australia and his grandmother in India. His father, also Alfred Edward Ringwood, enlisted as an 18–year–old in the First World War and fought in France, suffering gas attack, trench feet and other distressing experiences which impacted heavily on his later life. During the 1920s he held a variety of unskilled jobs and was essentially unemployed from the beginning of the Depression onwards. Ted's mother and extended family on both sides provided stability when his father joined Australia's large, itinerant ‘odd–jobbing’ labour force during the 1930s. (Later, his father received a war service pension.) Ted's mother, with clerical skills, supported the family through much of the Depression. However, the family's precarious financial position meant that Ted was boarded out with grandparents and relatives for extended periods. His maternal grandfather owned a small foundry in Fitzroy and successfully managed a small business through the Depression and the Second World War years.

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