%0 Journal Article
%T Flagship Memorial: An Analysis of Themes at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial: 1982-2007
%A Leslie D. Meyers
%J Sociation Today
%D 2012
%I North Carolina Sociological Association
%X This paper seeks to extend the analysis of Wagner-Pacifici and Schwartz¡¯s (1991) landmark piece, ¡°The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past¡±, by sixteen years in order to understand how memory has been both created and sustained at the memorial from 1982-2007. A content analysis of 791 articles from the New York Times and Washington Post revealed five themes for analysis: 1) healing, 2) politics, 3) conflict over additional elements, 4) religion, and 5) offerings. Of these themes, politics was significant. However, while the analysis indicates the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a politically charged terrain; grassroots efforts dominate narratives of public opinion, changes to the site and discussions of memory.
%K Vietnam Veterans Memorial
%K content analysis
%K Memory
%K Memoralization
%K politics
%K healing
%K New York Times
%K Washington Post
%U http://www.ncsociology.org/sociationtoday/v101/memorial.htm