Ceremonial Storytelling : Ritual and Narrative in Post-9/11 US wars / Frank Usbeck.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Usbeck, Frank, author.

Series:

American culture ; 14.

American Culture ; 14

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War and society.

Narrative therapy.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (331 pages)

Other Title:

Ceremonial Storytelling

Place of Publication:

Berlin, Germany : Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, 2019.

Summary:

US society has controversially debated civil-military relationships and war trauma since the Vietnam War. Civic activists today promote Indigenous warrior traditions as role models for non-Native veteran reintegration and health care. They particularly stress the role of ritual and narrative for civil-military negotiations of war experience and for trauma therapy. Applying a cultural-comparative lens, this book reads non-Native soldiers? and veterans? life writing from post-9/11 wars as 'ceremonial storytelling.' It analyzes activist academic texts, 'milblogs' written in the war zone, as well as 'homecoming scenarios.' Soldiers? and veterans? interactions with civilians constitute jointly constructed, narrative civic rituals that discuss the meaning of war experience and homecoming.

Contents:

Introduction

Narrating war: activist discourse and cultural comparison

Milblogs as rituals: war, citizenship, and the sacred

Beyond the call of duty: war experience, relationship-building and community service

Singing their â¿¿songâ¿yen: veterans, civilians, and the trials of homecoming

Conclusion.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.