Reflections on the Centenary of the First World War: Learning and Legacies for the Future

2014至2018年间，英国与其他许多国家一起纪念第一次世界大战一百周年：20世纪第一次全面战争，这场战争留下了一系列制度、教育、地理、政治、社会和文化形式的遗产。在百年纪念伊始，一种特殊的关于战争的文化记忆在英国占据主导地位，当时的教育大臣迈克尔·戈夫将这种记忆描述为“旨在贬低英国及其领导人的黑爵士神话”。(《每日邮报》，2014年1月2日)该项目列出了评估自2014年以来开展的一系列纪念活动在多大程度上参与、挑战或改变了这一“神话”，以及建立在学术-公众参与和共同产生知识的项目的经验和成果，特别是涉及AHRC公共参与中心的项目。这一研究项目的总体目标有三个：评估联合王国第一次世界大战百年期间的活动，以追踪和分析文化记忆的变化模式；评估这些活动，以评估它们在让社区不同成员参与其制作和接受方面取得的成功程度；并为参与规划未来周年纪念和活动的一系列利益攸关方考虑这些项目的经验教训和遗产。因此，它建立在AHRC项目AH/KO53241的基础上，并对其进行了扩展，该项目是“课堂上的第一次世界大战”，Pennell是这里的COI，他是PI。它将利用一系列定量和定性的研究技术和数字技术，详细概述2014-2018年期间在英国举行的一系列纪念活动，特别是HLF资助的一系列项目与AHRC第一次世界大战参与中心之间合作的经验和遗产。考虑到不同形式的历史研究和公共历史在地方、区域和国家范围内的关系，该项目将把这些放在关于战争以及纪念和表现战争的公共话语的变化和发展的更广泛的背景下，因此，该项目将为AHRC和HLF在纪念期间与接触中心一起开展的工作提供必要的背景。虽然该项目将从最广泛的意义上反映纪念活动，但它将特别侧重于被确定为百年期间公众参与第一次世界大战的关键的四个广泛的纪念领域：遗产和纪念、记忆和“隐藏的历史”的代际传播、艺术和文化，以及新的实体和数字纪念碑的发展。之所以选择它们，是因为它们提供了机会：a)反思艺术和文化部门参与和表现冲突的方式(Hanna)；b)评估百年纪念给年轻人和“难以接触到”群体留下的遗产(Pennell)；c)调查互联网在百年纪念期间发挥的作用(休斯)；以及d)考虑百年纪念对纪念、遗产和纪念活动的影响(Noake)。同样，所有这些领域都将主要通过参与中心的项目进行审查。该项目的调查人员分享了第一次世界大战的出版和资助研究的背景，并将与他们将领导的项目领域相关的一系列其他具体专业知识带到该项目中。

Between 2014 and 2018 Britain, together with many other nations, is commemorating the centenary of the First World War: the first 'total' war of the Twentieth Century, the legacies of which live on in a range of institutional, educational, geographic, political, social and cultural forms. At the outset of the centenary, a particular 'cultural memory' of the war dominated in Britain, one described by the then Education Minister Michael Gove as a 'Blackadder myth..designed to belittle Britain and its leaders'. (Daily Mail, 2 January 2014). This project sets out both the evaluate the extent to which the range of commemorative activities undertaken since 2014 has engaged with, challenged or changed this 'myth', and the experience and outcomes of projects that are built on academic-public engagement and the co-production of knowledge, especially those involving the AHRC Public Engagement Centres.This overall aim of this research project is threefold: to evaluate activities during the centenary period of the First World War in the United Kingdom in order to trace and analyse shifting patterns of cultural memory; to evaluate these activities in order to assess how successful they have been in involving diverse members of the community in their production and reception; and to consider the lessons and legacies of these projects for a range of stakeholders involved in planning for future anniversaries and events. It thus builds on and extends the AHRC project AH/KO53241, 'The First World War in the Classroom', on which Pennell, CoI here, was PI. Using a spectrum of quantitative and qualitative research techniques and digital technologies, it will provide a detailed overview of the range of commemorative activities which took place in Britain between 2014-2018, with a particular focus on the experience and legacies of the collaborations between a range of HLF-funded projects and AHRC First World War Engagement Centres. It will situate these in the wider context of changes and developments in public discourse about the war and the ways in which it is remembered and represented, considering the relationship between different forms of historical research and public histories in the local, regional, and national contexts.The project will thus provide essential context to the work of the AHRC and HLF in tandem with the Engagement Centres during the commemorative period. Whilst the project will reflect upon commemorative activities in their widest sense, it will focus in particular on four broad areas of commemoration identified as key to public engagement with the First World War in the centenary period: heritage and remembrance, intergenerational transmission of memories and 'hidden histories', arts and culture, and the development of new physical and digital memorials. These have been chosen as they provide opportunities to: a) reflect on the ways the arts and culture sector has engaged with and represented the conflict (Hanna); b) assess the legacies of the centenary for young people and 'hard to reach' groups (Pennell); c) to investigate the role the internet has played in the centenary period (Hughes), and; d) to consider the impact of the centenary on aspects of memorialisation, heritage and commemoration (Noakes). Again, all of these areas will be primarily examined via projects involving the Engagement Centres. The Investigators on the project share a background of published and funded research into the First World War, and also bring a range of other specific expertise to the project which relates to the area of the project on which they will take a lead.