Culture, Trauma, and Conflict: Cultural Studies Perspectives on War

The first part of this book focuses on the diversity of media that generate meanings and definitions of past and contemporary wars. These chapters are not restricted to the more traditional analyses of media content, but, rather, utilize these media products to reflect on contemporary cultural condition(s) in the USA and Europe. The second part of the book moves (at least partially) away from media representations, and focuses on torture and incarceration. Although in this part the materiality of war and conflict is very present, these analyses again show the importance of the constructions of enemy identities and (the acceptability of) violent practices. The third and final part of the book is related to memory and trauma. A series of 20th century conflicts and wars are revisited to demonstrate the cultural durability of war and the interconnection of these wars with present-day discourses and practices through the dialectics of remembering, commemorating and forgetting.