Suchergebnisse

Abstract Acknowledging the importance of heroes in the framing of political identities and building on the expanding interdisciplinary scholarship, this paper offers a novel approach by situating the analysis of public choices of heroes within debates on social change, and, specifically, inclusion and diversity politics. Utilising an original dataset of two individual-level, nationally representative surveys of British and US adults, we demonstrate that the landscape of popular heroism in both countries is shaped by limited acceptance of traditionally under-represented groups such as women and ethnic minorities. Using rigorous testing and regression analysis, we highlight the endurance of a white male hero whose dominance is only challenged through preferences for same-sex and same-race/ethnicity hero-figures, with both trends signposting the symbolic boundaries of embracing the difference. Overall, this paper highlights a critical role of popular heroes in advancing inclusion and diversity agendas and urges for further empirical research on the socio-political functions, and gender, race-specific drivers of heroism.

In modern day Britain, the discourse of national heroification is routinely utilised by politicians, educationalists and cultural industry professionals, whilst also being a popular concept to describe deserving 'do-gooders' who contribute to British society in a myriad of ways. We argue that although this heroification discourse is enacted as a discursive device of encouraging politically and morally desirable behaviour, it is dissociated from the largely under-explored facets of contemporary popular heroism. To compensate for this gap, this paper explores public preferences for heroes using survey data representative of British adults. This analysis demonstrates a conceptual stretching in the understanding of heroism, and allows identifying age- and gender-linked dynamics which effect public choices of heroes. In particular, we demonstrate that age above all determines the preference for having a hero, but does not explain preferences for specific hero-types. The focus on gender illustrates that the landscape of popular heroism reproduces a male-dominated bias which exists in the wider political and cultural heroification discourse. Simultaneously, our study shows that if national heroification discourse in Britain remains male-centric, the landscape of popular heroism is characterised by a gendered trend towards privatisation of heroes being particularly prominent amongst women. In the conclusion, this paper argues for a conceptual revision and re-gendering of the national heroification discourse as a step towards both empirically grounded, and age- and gender-sensitive politics of heroes and heroines.

"Wars do not simply vanish when politicians sign truces and weapons are set aside. Instead, society reimagines the war experience during annual ceremonies of war commemoration. This book sheds light on the political aspects of commemoration in Britain and Russia by investigating the media coverage of military fatalities, physical and virtual memorials, and national days of remembrance--Remembrance Day/Armistice Day in the UK and Victory Day in Russia. Nataliya Danilova argues that remembrance is a complex process of negotiating a political commitment towards fallen soldiers, national armed forces and the legacy of modern conflicts. By exercising a critical perspective on commemoration, this book explores the instrumentalisation of memory for managing civil-military relations, garnering public support for conflicts and government policies. This analysis advances our understanding of the nexus between remembrance, militarisation and nationalism thereby contributing to longstanding debates in memory studies, civil-military relations, political sociology, and international relations"--

AbstractAcknowledging the importance of heroes in the framing of political identities and building on the expanding interdisciplinary scholarship, this paper offers a novel approach by situating the analysis of public choices of heroes within debates on social change, and, specifically, inclusion and diversity politics. Utilising an original dataset of two individual-level, nationally representative surveys of British and US adults, we demonstrate that the landscape of popular heroism in both countries is shaped by limited acceptance of traditionally under-represented groups such as women and ethnic minorities. Using rigorous testing and regression analysis, we highlight the endurance of a white male hero whose dominance is only challenged through preferences for same-sex and same-race/ethnicity hero-figures, with both trends signposting the symbolic boundaries of embracing the difference. Overall, this paper highlights a critical role of popular heroes in advancing inclusion and diversity agendas and urges for further empirical research on the socio-political functions, and gender, race-specific drivers of heroism.

Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Carnegie Trust grant for the Universities in Scotland, 2017–2018, RG13890/70560 resulting from the research project, 'War Commemoration, Military Culture and Identity Politics in Scotland'. We would like to thank colleagues from the University of Aberdeen for constructive feedback on the drafts of this paper (10/01/2019 and 13/03/2019). Funding The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Funding received from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities in Scotland, 2017–2018 (RG13890/70560) for the research project, 'War Commemoration, Military Culture and Identity Politics in Scotland'. ; Peer reviewed ; Publisher PDF

peer-reviewed ; Drawing on analysis of learning materials, interviews and ethnographic observations of Scottish education, we analyse how projects aimed at teaching children to remember wars instil war normalising logics through (a) substitution of self-reflective study of conflict with skill-based knowledge; (b) gendered and racial stereotyping via emphasis on soldier-centric (Scottish/British) nationalisms, localisation and depoliticisation of remembrance; (c) affective meaning-making and embodied performance of 'Our War'. Utilising Ranciere-inspired critical pedagogy, we explore opportunities for critical engagement with the legacy of conflicts.

peer-reviewed ; This paper explores the (re)production of embodied gendered and racialised identities as part of commemorations devised by the Scottish government to mark the Centenary of WWI, 2014- 18. In particular, we demonstrate how the Centenary has re-established Scotland's key contribution to British military power instead of providing a platform for a broader discussion of British wars and Scotland's role therein. Our analysis posits that this reframing was achieved through the (re)production of a gendered polarisation between white 'dead' soldier-heroes, 'local lads' and bearers of a 'proud Scottish military tradition'; and women as embodiments of patriotic motherhood. We further explore the deployment of specific discursive and performative means to transform Dr Elsie Inglis, the only woman whose contribution was singled out by WW100 Scotland, into a patriotic war heroine. This was achieved by the militarisation of her work; the obscuring of identity, class- and race-based hierarchies within women's war-work; and, finally, through the subversion of feminist ideas and practices in Inglis' work for the Scottish Women's Hospitals. Lastly, we reflect on the gendered legacy of the Centenary, emphasising the necessity for critical engagement with Britain's wars and Scotland's role therein.