16. The Great War, Grief, and Memory (Guest Lecture by Bruno Cabanes)

France Since 1871 (HIST 276)

The human cost of World War I cannot be understood only in terms of demographics. To better understand the consequences of the war upon both soldiers and civilians it is necessary to consider mourning in its private, as well as its public dimensions. Indeed, for many French people who lived through the war, public spectacles of bereavement, such as the Unknown Soldier, were also conceived of as intensely private affairs. Both types of mourning are associated with a wide variety of rituals and procedures.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Personal and Communal Mourning: Modes of Cultural Grief During and After the Great War
05:39 - Chapter 2. Communities in Mourning: Social Circles of Grief
15:57 - Chapter 3. Specificities of the Great War Experience: The Lost Generation, the Lost Bodies
27:53 - Chapter 4. Rites of Collective Mourning: Creating National Unity through Commemoration

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Fall 2007.