Old Army Fight: The Intersection of War Memorials and Veterans at Texas A&M University

Abstract

As Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom draw to a close, Americans are curious to learn more about soldier experiences during wartime. War memorials document public war memories and how the masses relate to war, while personal war narratives rely on performance vessels, such as plays, autobiographical novels, and movies to reach an audience. Texas A&M University’s rich military history relies on war memories to serve as a cultural cornerstone to produce an “Aggie” identity. At Texas A&M, both the public and private sectors of war memories are available through performances ranging from memorials such as the Memorial Student Center to the 2014 staged performance of The Telling Project’s Telling Aggieland.

In this MA thesis, based on ethnographic fieldwork with Texas A&M University’s Memorial Student Center and veterans involved with Telling Aggieland, I explore the intersection between the public and private sectors of war memories. By examining the history of the MSC as well as student interactions with the building, I explore the public performance of the war memorial and how spectators negotiate these memories into their own (often civilian) lives. Additionally, fieldnotes from the performance process of Telling Aggieland, as well as interviews with participants, informs my understanding of how the performance of personal war narratives bridges gaps between veterans and civilians, while also serving as a therapeutic healing process. Combining my fieldwork of the MSC with my ethnographic interviews with veteran performers, I investigate how performance in the public and private sectors