'Lt. Col Smith with unknown Bomb Girl': problematizing narratives of male battlefield heroism in Canadian military museums. Issue 1 (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Taber, Nancy
• Is Part Of: Critical military studies. Volume 8:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 99
• Page End: 117
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: Military -- museum -- war -- feminist antimilitarism -- gender -- agonistic memory; Armed Forces -- Periodicals; Sociology, Military -- Periodicals; Military ethics -- Periodicals; 355.005
• DOI: 10.1080/23337486.2020.1732729
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2333-7486

Abstract

ABSTRACT: In this article, I analyse 15 Canadian military museums that tend towards a patriotic antagonistic approach to war that favours a narrative of masculine heroism on the battlefield. I argue that, instead, war and military museums (not just in Canada, but in other national contexts) should acknowledge complexity and controversy through the use of agonistic memory. They should take a multivocal multiperspective approach by telling the stories of those on both (all) sides of a war, connecting the homefront with the frontlines, and acknowledging the roles of societal systems in war and violence. I note certain exceptions to an unproblematized narrative of war that can be used as a template of sorts to bring a gender analysis and critical thought into military museums in order to problematize war, its representations, and its connection to society.