Vicarious Remembrance: Identity, (In)Security, and the Politics of British War Commemoration

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Contemporary British political discourse abounds with declarations that 'we' won World War II. These are increasingly made by a population unborn at the time of the event, and without first-hand military experience. Instead, such claims frequently invoke genealogical - and vicarious - connections. While some of these have become a topic of public debate in recent years, they have received little attention from International Relations (IR) scholars. My research develops scholarship on war commemoration by exploring the functions, stakes, and politics of living vicariously through ancestral/national military exploits. By exploring the initiatives of the Royal British Legion and debates surrounding its red Poppy emblem, I explore the ways in which individuals, groups, and commercial entities have emphasised 'our' genealogical connections to past wars to assuage existential anxieties and establish claims to authentic national belonging. The proposed activities are designed to maximise the scholarly and public impact of my doctoral research and to provide a springboard for a research career within UK academia. Firstly, the Fellowship will allow me to prepare a book manuscript and attain dissemination of the thesis through peer-reviewed academic journals. It will allow me to develop papers which speak to disciplines beyond IR including memory studies, which until now has approached vicarious dynamics from a cultural heritage angle rather than a political one. Secondly, it will enable me to undertake limited additional research which will expand the horizons of my project. This additional research will form the basis for an article that will enable me to apply my work beyond war commemoration to consider how people live vicariously through contemporary military violence.During the Fellowship, I will participate in three academic conferences. Presenting a paper at the British International Studies Association (BISA) conference based on new research will enable me to incorporate feedback before submitting it for publication. To cultivate an interdisciplinary network conducive to future research collaboration beyond IR, I will present a paper based on my thesis at the Memory Studies Association conference. I will also develop my academic leadership skills and contribute to the collegiality of the profession by proposing panels for the BISA and European International Studies Association conferences, bringing together scholars from several disciplines to discuss British (war) commemoration and poppies in global politics respectively.The Fellowship will also enable me to share my research beyond academia. I will write articles about my research for The Conversation and The Guardian, both aimed at a general readership. In November, I will run three engagement events about remembrance. The first will bring together academic and NGO stakeholders for a one-day workshop to discuss war commemoration and its impact on broader commemorative culture - including memorialisation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondly, a 'Question Time'-stlyle debate on this topic will engage a wider Warwick and public audience. Thirdly, I will invite classes from two local schools to attend a one-day educational outreach event to learn about the politics of remembrance, thus developing my outreach experience. Finally, the Fellowship will be used to make the transition to the next phase of my career. I will develop a novel project proposal which expands the focus of my doctoral research to explore the impact of vicarious militarism on war preparedness. It will consider the ways in which vicarious dynamics both underpin and undermine British military recruitment efforts, thus rethinking existing scholarship viewing militarisation and war preparedness as necessarily mutually-reinforcing. The funding applications based on the proposal will be submitted to the Leverhulme Trust and the ESRC, and will benefit greatly from the experienced mentorship of Dr Heath-Kelly.