Identity, Narration and War (Examination of the Relationship of War & Identity; Emphasis on War Memories)
Document Type : Original Article
Author
Researcher at the Strategic Defence Research Center
Abstract
The current research aims at answering some theoretical questions about war. None of the questions will directly study the origin of "identity" but they will delineate the continuity of the "sense of identity" during a war. The questions are:
1- Why "identity" becomes an important issue in theoretical debates about war?
2- What relationship can one find between identity, meaning and war?
3- To what extent can "meaning" link the debate over identity to mental perspectives?
In answering the above questions, the independent variable of narration was taken into account. The variable of war serves as a second one which uses narrations either by selecting them or magnifying their influence.
The chief hypothesis of the current work is that the permanency of an identity which is founded on an event called war completely depends on the process of war. Therefore, if this process mingles with other important processes which engulf a country after a war (like negative crises of internal government disputes and positive crises of reformation and development), the new identity which is an outcome of war will face great changes.
1- Why "identity" becomes an important issue in theoretical debates about war?
2- What relationship can one find between identity, meaning and war?
3- To what extent can "meaning" link the debate over identity to mental perspectives?
In answering the above questions, the independent variable of narration was taken into account. The variable of war serves as a second one which uses narrations either by selecting them or magnifying their influence.
The chief hypothesis of the current work is that the permanency of an identity which is founded on an event called war completely depends on the process of war. Therefore, if this process mingles with other important processes which engulf a country after a war (like negative crises of internal government disputes and positive crises of reformation and development), the new identity which is an outcome of war will face great changes.
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