Memories of a world crisis

Abstract

Santa Cruz de los Pinos is a small town like most others in the Cuban countryside. But half a century ago it was the epicenter of the 1962 Missile Crisis. During that time it served as a Soviet base for middle-range nuclear missiles, and the US air reconnaissance photos of it were spread through media all around the world. The crisis was solved through negotiations without Cuban involvement, and as a result of this neglect the Missile Crisis has been an under-communicated part of history in Cuba. A Swedish—Cuban research project has now investigated what kinds of memories of the crisis remain today at the former missile base — in the ground as well as in people’s minds. Digging in the ground has proved to be an effective way to start a remembering process and to help disarm a politically loaded history and uncover stories other than those dominating ‘big history’.

Command Centre Bjorn: the conflict heritage of a Swedish Cold War military installation

“…This raises various questions for heritage managements in different parts of the world (cf. Buchli and Lucas 2001;Gustafsson et al 2016;Schofield and Cocroft 2007;Burström et al 2009;McWilliams 2013;González Hernández, Gustafsson, and Karlsson 2015;Hanson 2016). The archaeological work at Command Centre Bjorn can, more precisely, be placed within the branch of Modern Conflict Archaeology.…”

“…these memories recall events which once did happen, while others are consciously or unconsciously constructed to make the past comprehensible or perhaps bearable (cf. Burström et al 2009;Burström 2007Burström , 2012. People remember differently, and the multivocality of the recent past brings the democratic dimensions in writing history to the fore.…”

Atomic archaeology: Italian innovation and American adventurism

“…While there has been interest in Cold War archaeology and heritage studies (Burström et al. 2009; Hanson 2016; Schofield and Cocroft 2009) and important attention given to nuclear legacies (Joyce 2020), much less has been written about the kinds of techno‐political connectivity described here, specifically instrumentation and field testing in its geopolitical context. Cold War archaeology, furthermore, has not been considered as patently “contaminated” as sociocultural anthropology (Price 2011).…”

“…Extending further out to the development of archaeological science/technology, I consider the wider intensification of the "iron triangle," President Eisenhower's apt phrase for the military-industrial-academic complex (see also Meskell 2016Meskell , 2018Meskell , 2020. While there has been interest in Cold War archaeology and heritage studies (Burström et al 2009;Hanson 2016;Schofield and Cocroft 2009) and important attention given to nuclear legacies (Joyce 2020), much less has been written about the kinds of techno-political connectivity described here, specifically instrumentation and field testing in its geopolitical context. Cold War archaeology, furthermore, has not been considered as patently "contaminated" as sociocultural anthropology (Price 2011).…”

The destroyer of worlds hidden in the forest: Cold War nuclear warhead sites in Poland

“…Some focus on abandoned military installations, while others investigate the material remains of totalitarianism and its impact on the everyday life of local populations (e.g. Beck 2002;Dolff-Bonekämper 2002;Whorton 2002;Fowler 2008;Hanson 2010;Burström et al 2013;McWilliams 2013;Rak et al 2016). All of these narratives conclude that the Cold War was not merely a state of mind, but a real phenomenon that had the power to influence every aspect of society.…”