Emotional Remembering: The Pragmatics of National Memory

Abstract

This paper examines spaces in between the "out there" of collective representation and the "in here" of personal cognition and emotion by focusing on acts of public remembrance that are at once individual and collective, personal and national. Reporting on research carried out at the U.S. national memorial to the bombing attack at Pearl Harbor that drew America into World War II, the paper analyzes the discourse of "survivors" who present personal stories in the memorial context. The analysis argues that a repertoire of discursive strategies functions to emotionalize national narrative, while at the same time works to nationalize personal pasts.

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