About the Project
Remembrance and commemoration simultaneously invoke the past, present and future. They entail communication processes wherein people, events and stories of the past are recalled, retold and recontextualized in the present. The processes by which certain narratives of the past come to prominence over others, how we are to understand them and how to understand ourselves in relation to these pasts, are matters of deep social significance. This is because collective remembering is inevitably bound up with collective forgetting; critical examination of commemoration requires us to ask which pasts are attended to, about the elision of alternative details, what is omitted, simplified or distorted, in the service of the present. Consequently, processes of collective memorializing are not neutral, but rather always tied to collective identity, politics and power in complex and mutually informed ways.
We are exposed to, and learn, historical narratives about trauma and the experiences of others via mass mediated communication – through the TV, cinema, museum visits, etc. Commemoration of tragic/traumatic events involving ‘Others’ tend to be tied to narratives of the Self. Representations of the Holocaust have been analysed from a range of disciplinary approaches which, specifically in relation to Britain, have highlighted continued controversies surrounding the nation’s complex relationship with the past. In Britain, the predominant Holocaust mythology, which developed almost immediately after the liberation of the camps, has been one of Britain as unknowing bystander and eventual liberator. However, Holocaust historians have destabilised this account and, with it, the moral certainties that Britain did all it could to help civilian victims of Nazism. Has this challenge to the national narrative filtered through to commemorative activities?
Since 2001, Britain has commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) on 27 January and, to mark the day, television and radio stations have broadcast programmes both on the Holocaust and of the National Commemorative Ceremony. In addition, the Holocaust is commemorated in British museums, national memorials, fine art and literature. This PhD project will examine the ways that HMD has been mediated in Britain, and specifically analyse in what ways the mass mediation of these historical narratives has changed since 2000.
Loughborough University is a top-ten rated university in England for research intensity (REF2014) and an outstanding 66% of the work of Loughborough’s academic staff who were eligible to be submitted to the REF was judged as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’, compared to a national average figure of 43%.
In choosing Loughborough for your research, you’ll work alongside academics who are leaders in their field. You will benefit from comprehensive support and guidance from our Graduate School, including tailored careers advice, to help you succeed in your research and future career.
Find out more: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/supporting-you/research/
Entry requirements
Applicants should have, or expect to achieve, at least a 2:1 Honours degree (or equivalent) in Communication, Media Studies, History or a related subject. A relevant Master’s degree and/or experience in one or more of the following will be an advantage: Communications, Discourse Analysis, History, Cultural History.
All applications should be made online at http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/apply/research/. Under programme name, select ‘Social Sciences’ .
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