Catherine Klein, '04, decided to explore the topic of war memorials and how various memorials embody a cultural understanding of a given war, battle, or event through a project titled "Vietnam War Memorials and Their Cultural Meaning" as an Emerson scholar for 2003. According to Klein, the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial is unlike other American war memorials in that it has an elusive and dissonant message.
The controversy surrounding the reconstruction of Ground Zero has led to the current debate over what kind of memorial should be built highlighting the grandeur of the Twin Towers and the devastation caused by the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001, if a memorial should be built at all. Memorials seem to be a tricky topic; in attempting to shape and portray a nation's understanding of an attack or war, oftentimes war memorials embody a cultural understanding of the war, which may be inaccurate. The ways in which different countries memorialize historical events vary tremendously based on a given country's interpretation of the events and occurrences. Evident in the United State's Vietnam War Memorial and the war memorials in Vietnam highlighting the "American War," popular sentiment and historical memory can be vastly different for the two countries in regards to the same war.
Catherine Klein, '04, decided to explore this topic through a project titled "Vietnam War Memorials and Their Cultural Meaning" as an Emerson scholar for 2003. According to Klein, the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial is unlike other American war memorials in that it has an elusive and dissonant message. She plans to examine the negative sentiments embodied in this memorial by studying the memorial's three distinct parts: Maya Lin's V-shaped wall, the statue depicting three heroic-looking American soldiers, and a monument highlighting female nurses. Additionally, Klein had the opportunity to study war memorials in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, including the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, and the My Lai Massacre monument and graveyard, while studying abroad last Spring semester 2003 in Vietnam. Through the study of these monuments, Klein will uncover the legacy of the Vietnam War in Vietnam, which will enable her to compare and contrast popular sentiment and historical memory of the war on the part of the U.S. and Vietnam, two former enemies. Through her comparison, Klein hopes to show the stark contrast between the two cultures, their world-views and the historical experiences of the nations' citizens. Her project, made possible through collaborations with Hamilton College Professor Maurice Isserman, will include a presentation of her findings in the fall of 2003.
