Writing Yourself Home: US Veterans, Creative Writing, and Social Activism
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...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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European Association for American Studies
2018-07-01
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| Series: | European Journal of American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12567 |
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| author | Frank Usbeck |
| author_facet | Frank Usbeck |
| author_sort | Frank Usbeck |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-af035f5901774b188b9f33fdcff83fad |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1991-9336 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | European Association for American Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | European Journal of American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-af035f5901774b188b9f33fdcff83fad2025-01-06T09:09:24ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362018-07-0113210.4000/ejas.12567Writing Yourself Home: US Veterans, Creative Writing, and Social ActivismFrank UsbeckThe 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.https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12567veteranscreative writingsocial therapynarrative therapyPTSDcivic engagement |
| spellingShingle | Frank Usbeck Writing Yourself Home: US Veterans, Creative Writing, and Social Activism European Journal of American Studies veterans creative writing social therapy narrative therapy PTSD civic engagement |
| title | Writing Yourself Home: US Veterans, Creative Writing, and Social Activism |
| title_full | Writing Yourself Home: US Veterans, Creative Writing, and Social Activism |
| title_fullStr | Writing Yourself Home: US Veterans, Creative Writing, and Social Activism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Writing Yourself Home: US Veterans, Creative Writing, and Social Activism |
| title_short | Writing Yourself Home: US Veterans, Creative Writing, and Social Activism |
| title_sort | writing yourself home us veterans creative writing and social activism |
| topic | veterans creative writing social therapy narrative therapy PTSD civic engagement |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/12567 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT frankusbeck writingyourselfhomeusveteranscreativewritingandsocialactivism |