UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies
UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland | Director: Professor Liam Kennedy
Prospective Students
President Clinton addresses the Institute Sept 2010
History, Memory and US Foreign Relations
8-10 April 2011
- Conference
- Programme (.pdf)
- Registration Information
- Accommodation & Food
- How to Find Us
- Contact Details
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Report
The ‘History, Memory and US Foreign Relations’ conference recently took place in the UCD Clinton Institute for American Studies. Scholars from institutes in North America, Ireland and Europe convened to debate the struggle for the construction, possession and interpretation of historical memory in the context of US foreign relations. A compelling plenary address by Professor Jay Winter of Yale University addressed the issue of silence in international affairs. Winter argued that silence could be a speech act in itself and that to focus on the issue in silence in remembrance meant raising issues such as who can speak and ‘strategic silences’ that are used to cut off open-ended disputes. The conference’s other plenary speaker, Dr. David Ryan of UCC, demonstrated how the concept of constructed collective memories could be used by historians to examine US foreign relations.
Building on these insights, participants explored aspects of the confluence of memory and US foreign relations such as how people, cultures and societies remember, forget and distort the past, how those memories affect present thoughts and actions, and how policymakers use memory in their decision-making. Specific panels discussed issues such as commemoration and foreign policy, remembering World War II, ethnic American identities, as well as the changing memories of and the Vietnam and Cold Wars. Energetic discussion during the sessions continued into the evenings and final conference meal on the Saturday.
Plenary Speakers
Professor Jay M. Winter, Yale University
Jay M. Winter, the Charles J. Stille Professor of History, is a specialist on World War I and its impact on the 20th century. His other interests include remembrance of war in the 20th century, such as memorial and mourning sites, European population decline, the causes and institutions of war, British popular culture in the era of the Great War and the Armenian genocide of 1915. Winter is the author or co-author of a dozen books, including Socialism and the Challenge of War, Ideas and Politics in Britain, 1912-18, The Great War and the British People, The Fear of Population Decline, The Experience of World War I, Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning: The Great War in European Cultural History, 1914-1918: The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century, Remembering War: The Great War between History and Memory in the 20th Century, and Dreams of Peace and Freedom: Utopian Moments in the 20th Century. Winter was co-producer, co-writer and chief historian for the PBS series "The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century," which won an Emmy Award, a Peabody Award and a Producers Guild of America Award for best television documentary in 1997
Dr. David Ryan, University College Cork
Senior Lecturer, Department of History at University College Cork. He has published extensively on contemporary history and US foreign policy concentrating on the interventions in the post-Vietnam era, including Central America, Angola, Vietnam, and the Middle East amongst other places. His publications include: US-Sandinista Diplomatic Relations (1995); The United States and Decolonization (2000); US Foreign Policy in World History (2000); Iraq in Vietnam: Tactics, lessons, legacies, ghosts (Co-Ed. John Dumbrell, 2006); Frustrated Empire: US Foreign Policy from 9/11 to Iraq (2007); America and Iraq: Policy-making, Intervention and Regional Politics (Co-Ed. Patrick Kiely, 2009). His current research interests involve an investigation into the impact of the ‘Vietnam syndrome’ on US intervention in regional conflicts since 1975.
The construction of memory, personal, collective or institutional has a profound influence on our understanding of the world. This conference seeks to explore the struggle for the construction, possession and interpretation of historical memory in the context of US foreign relations. We invite papers and panels that explore any aspect of the confluence of memory and US foreign relations, broadly defined. The conference is particularly, but not exclusively, interested in how people, cultures and societies remember, forget and distort the past, how those memories affect present thoughts and actions, and how policymakers use memory in their decision-making. Within that framework, possible topics could include but are not limited to
- The sites and locations of collective memory: if collective memory exists, where is it located? How do symbols and ritual acts help Americans reach consensus on their past interactions with the world?
- Agents of cultural production and memory: how have writers, artists, musicians and media figures memorialized and understood American foreign relations?
- Constructed narratives: how do the constructed meta-narratives of America’s role in the world relate to current policies?
- Forgotten and silenced memories: what are the gaps and silences in collective memory of American foreign relations?
- Memory and decision-making: How do policymakers (at Presidential level and below) mediate their personal experiences with broader collective memory and how does this affect their decision-making process?
- Organizational lessons learned processes and memory: how do organizations, such as the State Department and Department of Defence, process lessons and how does this process affect collective memory? Conversely, how does collective memory itself affect the lesson-learning process?
We invite single paper and panel proposals for this conference. Please send an email to david.fitzgerald@ucd.ie with the following information:
- Name, contact details and academic affiliation
- Paper title
- 200-300 word abstract
- Brief CV or biographical statement
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 14 January 2011
For queries or further information contact:
Dr. David Fitzgerald
Clinton Institute for American Studies
Belfield House
University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
+353 1 716 1592
david.fitzgerald@ucd.ie
Registration Information
- €50 Registration Fee
- €30 Student/Unwaged Registration Fee
Registration fee includes a conference pack and admission to all conference seminars, plenary sessions, teas/coffees and lunch on Saturday.
A conference meal will take place on the evening of Saturday 21st February. For those interested in participating, an additional payment of €27 is to be made in advance or at the start of the conference.
To register please email the following details and return to Catherine.Carey@ucd.ie
You will then receive confirmation of your booking.
- Name
- Institute/Affiliation
- Full Postal Address
- Tel/Fax
- Number of places
- Fee
- Will you be attending the dinner on Saturday night?
Payment can be made by cheque in advance or by cash at the start of the event
Accommodation & Food
Attendees are responsible for booking and paying their own accommodation.
Food on Campus
Aside from lunch on Saturday, other meals are not provided as part of the registration fee. Details of additional places to eat on campus are listed below and can be located on the UCD Campus Map.
There are a number of restaurants and snack bars also available on campus.
How to get to University College Dublin and the UCD Clinton Institute
The conference will open in the UCD Clinton Institute,
Delegates are responsible for booking their own travel and accommodation.
Contact Details
Contact details are available on our contact page.