Welcome
Researching Remembrance,
Commemoration and Memorials
Ceremonies of Armistice Day and Remembrance are increasingly significant public events and war memorials remain a key element of the landscape of many cities, towns and villages. The forms and practices of commemoration are however changing, incorporating: formal and informal acts of remembrance, a role for broadcast and new media, museums, physical spaces, constructed memorials, pilgrimage, tourism and heritage.
Remembrance, Commemoration and Memorials are important areas of study in the context of modern Britain where many within the diverse population have not shared the experience of national war beyond the popular representations in media and museums. As Remembrance and Memorials are often tied up with issues of identity and nationhood there are questions to be asked as to how remembrance may develop in the diverse multi-cultural society and changing political climate that exist within Britain in the Twenty-First Century.
Remembrance is not necessarily focussed upon the armed forces, it is often about families those who are bereaved- for example the war widows garden or the SANDS Garden, sponsored by The Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society at the National Memorial Arboretum (NMA). Indeed, in the Twentieth Century increasing number of civilians have become victims of armed conflict. Some of the largest public acts of remembrance in contemporary culture are disconnected from the armed forces and have taken place across national boundaries. For example it is estimated that between 1 and 2.5 billion people watched Princess Diana’s funeral on television in 1997, a figure that was probably surpassed in 2005 by the funeral of Pope John-Paul.
Public Commemoration is however only one part of people’s experience of loss and of sacrifice. Personal experience and recollection are for many more important, although coloured by the enormous complexity of shared and individual factors. An important area for consideration is therefore the inter-relationship between the public and private acts of Remembrance.
It is within this contemporary context that in 2008 the National Memorial Arboretum, The Royal British Legion, Staffordshire and Nottingham Universities set up a series of seminars to discuss Remembrance, Commemoration and Memorials.
The seminars have initially drawn together an inter-disciplinary group of approximately forty experts working in the fields of History and Heritage, International Relations and Politics, Psychology, Human Geography, Media and the Creative Arts, the Study of Religions and teacher training alongside practioners working for religious groups, in the Armed Forces, Education, the Mass Observation Archive, The Royal British Legion and at the National Memorial Arboretum.
The Seminars have four aims:
- To deepen understanding of the meaning and significance of Commemoration in the Contemporary Culture informed by a study of the practice of Commemoration in other times and cultures
- To inform the practice of Commemoration and Remembrance for future generations
- To explore the relationship between Remembrance, Commemoration and the Armed Forces Covenant
- To stimulate further study of Remembrance, Commemoration and Memorials
These seminars are building up a network of interested individuals whose research and work is informed and stimulated by the seminars. The dissemination of such research will be encouraged through future conferences, study days and publications; for example we are aiming to publish a special dedicated edition of the Journal War and Culture Studies in 2011/2012. Knowledge transfer will be stimulated by this website, work with schools and educationalists and further planned publications.
Initially four seminars are taking place over two years and their programmes can be viewed on this website along with accompanying notes or synopsises of papers given.
28 September 2008 – Introductory seminar at the NMA
12 February 2009 – at the NMA
17 September 2009 - at Haig House in London
11 February 2010 - at the NMA
Participants aim to attend at least three out of the four seminars and most lead a discussion or give a paper at one of the sessions. Each seminar involves a mixture of listening to formal papers and more discursive sessions. Other individuals continue to come forward to participate in the network and contribute to the NMA becoming a centre for the study and research for Remembrance in Contemporary Culture. 
This website
Within the site we hope to connect you with the ongoing work and aims of the group. The site also offers an opportunity to get to know the participants and discover the work they are under taking. If you wish to undertake further study we have a resources section which links to our partner organisations as well as many memorial sites. If you wish to read the occasional papers published on this body of work there will be an opportunity to do so as well as instructions for submitting your own paper.
Please feel free to navigate the site and discover this very exciting area of research. Finally we have opened a discussion board (only available to members of the network ) to begin discussing the various areas of research, Psychology and Religion, Heritage, Media, Design and Architecture, History and Education. If you are interested in joining the network or attending the seminars or similar events please contact the convenors. For example there is a conference on Women, War and Remembrance on the 13 March 2010.
Dr Maggie Andrews – University of Staffordshire
Charlie Bagot -Jewitt – National Memorial Arboretum
Dr Nigel Hunt – University of Nottingham
Convenors of the Seminar Series