Writing Yourself Home
US Veterans, Creative Writing, and Social Activism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6188372 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Frank Usbeck (0000-0003-2222-2408, Dresden State Art Collections, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Publication date | 2018-06-26 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1991-9336 • E-ISSN: 1991-9336 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/ejas.12567 |
| OpenAlex | W2883711778 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 19 |
The post-9/11 wars have brought forth a new generation of military veterans in the US and rekindled debates about social and psychological problems related to war experience. These veterans produced a plethora of firsthand war narratives in diverse genres and media. This article explores how public discourse about civil-military relationships, war experience, and trauma, simmering since the domestic divisions over Vietnam, turned to such first-person narratives in recent years to discuss the psychological costs of war and homecoming. It interprets the proliferation of veterans’ writing projects as part of a civic activist movement that, postulating a social crisis in civil-military relationships, seeks to address veterans’ social and emotional struggles through community (re)building and social therapy. The writing projects promote themselves as a means to bridge the experiential gap between civilians and veterans and, in doing so, they enact social reintegration
Bridge (graph theory · Criminology · Homecoming · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Art Therapy and Mental Health · Gender Studies · History · Law · Medicine · Mental Health via Writing · Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
| Citations per year | 0.2 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2021 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |