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Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal

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Resumo:In George L. Mosse’s words, the modern war’s most essential experience was the mass murder endorsed by the State (1990). The extent of the conflict and its path of destruction would affect not only the combatants, but society as a whole. Going beyond the veterans’ individual or group memory, death ended up being a structural element in the construction of the political memory of the First World War. This analysis focuses not only on the impact death had on individual combatants or the soldiers as a group, but mainly on the way in which it was appropriated by society and political powers through processes specifically designed to disguise death. The aim of States was to erase the destabilizing impact that casualties had on public opinion, neutralizing it into new and old environmental and architectural structures, thereby creating a new lexicon for death. The idea was to avoid a revolt over the mass sacrifice. The government wanted to use death cult rituals to create a consensual pride in the name of the nation, an idyllic and metaphorical attempt to reevaluate death in a religious, political and ideological sense, trying to surpass the physicality of mass death on the battlefield. Taking into account the deeply funereal nature of the Great War remembrance processes in Portugal, this article will highlight the integration of Portuguese memorial rites into the European war culture and will enable an understanding of the central role of death in the Great War remembrance process. This text will also seek to describe the treatment of the dead and the delineation of places of memory, mostly focusing on the Portuguese Unknown Soldiers, as a way of understanding the nature and the main questions surrounding the official memory of the First World War in Portugal between 1918 and 1933.
Autores principais:Correia,Sílvia
Assunto:First World War Republic Memory War Culture Unknown Soldier
Ano:2013
País:Portugal
Tipo de documento:artigo
Tipo de acesso:acesso aberto
Instituição associada:Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia
Idioma:inglês
Origem:SciELO Portugal
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author Correia,Sílvia
author_facet Correia,Sílvia
author_role author
country_str PT
creators_json_txt [{\"Person.name\":\"Correia,Sílvia\"}]
datacite.creators.creator.creatorName.fl_str_mv Correia,Sílvia
datacite.rights.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
datacite.subjects.subject.fl_str_mv First World War
Republic
Memory
War Culture
Unknown Soldier
datacite.titles.title.fl_str_mv Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Correia,Sílvia
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv text/html
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1645-64322013000200002
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universidade do Porto
Brown University
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv e-Journal of Portuguese History v.11 n.2 2013
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv First World War
Republic
Memory
War Culture
Unknown Soldier
dc.title.fl_str_mv Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
description In George L. Mosse’s words, the modern war’s most essential experience was the mass murder endorsed by the State (1990). The extent of the conflict and its path of destruction would affect not only the combatants, but society as a whole. Going beyond the veterans’ individual or group memory, death ended up being a structural element in the construction of the political memory of the First World War. This analysis focuses not only on the impact death had on individual combatants or the soldiers as a group, but mainly on the way in which it was appropriated by society and political powers through processes specifically designed to disguise death. The aim of States was to erase the destabilizing impact that casualties had on public opinion, neutralizing it into new and old environmental and architectural structures, thereby creating a new lexicon for death. The idea was to avoid a revolt over the mass sacrifice. The government wanted to use death cult rituals to create a consensual pride in the name of the nation, an idyllic and metaphorical attempt to reevaluate death in a religious, political and ideological sense, trying to surpass the physicality of mass death on the battlefield. Taking into account the deeply funereal nature of the Great War remembrance processes in Portugal, this article will highlight the integration of Portuguese memorial rites into the European war culture and will enable an understanding of the central role of death in the Great War remembrance process. This text will also seek to describe the treatment of the dead and the delineation of places of memory, mostly focusing on the Portuguese Unknown Soldiers, as a way of understanding the nature and the main questions surrounding the official memory of the First World War in Portugal between 1918 and 1933.
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publishDate 2013
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universidade do Porto
Brown University
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spelling Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in PortugalCorreia,SílviaFirst World WarRepublicMemoryWar CultureUnknown Soldieropen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1645-64322013000200002URLhttp://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1645-64322013000200002URLHasVersion2013-01-01In George L. Mosse’s words, the modern war’s most essential experience was the mass murder endorsed by the State (1990). The extent of the conflict and its path of destruction would affect not only the combatants, but society as a whole. Going beyond the veterans’ individual or group memory, death ended up being a structural element in the construction of the political memory of the First World War. This analysis focuses not only on the impact death had on individual combatants or the soldiers as a group, but mainly on the way in which it was appropriated by society and political powers through processes specifically designed to disguise death. The aim of States was to erase the destabilizing impact that casualties had on public opinion, neutralizing it into new and old environmental and architectural structures, thereby creating a new lexicon for death. The idea was to avoid a revolt over the mass sacrifice. The government wanted to use death cult rituals to create a consensual pride in the name of the nation, an idyllic and metaphorical attempt to reevaluate death in a religious, political and ideological sense, trying to surpass the physicality of mass death on the battlefield. Taking into account the deeply funereal nature of the Great War remembrance processes in Portugal, this article will highlight the integration of Portuguese memorial rites into the European war culture and will enable an understanding of the central role of death in the Great War remembrance process. This text will also seek to describe the treatment of the dead and the delineation of places of memory, mostly focusing on the Portuguese Unknown Soldiers, as a way of understanding the nature and the main questions surrounding the official memory of the First World War in Portugal between 1918 and 1933.Universidade do PortoBrown Universitye-Journal of Portuguese History v.11 n.2 2013text/htmlengjournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501literature
spellingShingle Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal
Correia,Sílvia
First World War
Republic
Memory
War Culture
Unknown Soldier
status SINGLETON
subject.fl_str_mv First World War
Republic
Memory
War Culture
Unknown Soldier
title Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal
title_full Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal
title_fullStr Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal
title_full_unstemmed Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal
title_short Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal
title_sort Death and Politics: The Unknown Warrior at the Center of the Political Memory of the First World War in Portugal
topic First World War
Republic
Memory
War Culture
Unknown Soldier
topic_facet First World War
Republic
Memory
War Culture
Unknown Soldier
url http://scielo.pt/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1645-64322013000200002
visible 1