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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01ht24wn823
Title: Death By Agreement: Americans' Depictions of Their Afghanistan and Iraq War Dead
Authors: Isaacs, Cory
Advisors: Goldstein, Adam
Contributors: Public and International Affairs Department
Subjects: Organizational behavior
Military history
Sociology
Issue Date: 2024
Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University
Abstract: This dissertation examines how American (1) loved ones, (2) military peers and subordinates, (3) mourners, (4) political leaders, (5) journalists, (6) clergy members, and (7) military leaders depicted United States military members who died in Afghanistan and Iraq. The depictions of groups (1) though (6) were glowing, stable, and heterogenous. Two themes predominated within that pattern: heroism and voluntarism. The war dead were self-sacrificing freedom fighters who chose to join the military and go to war. The depictions of group (7), military leaders, were glowing, stable, and homogenous. Three themes dominated within that pattern: professionalism, heroism, and winningness. The war dead were self-sacrificing, freedom-fighting experts who died winning the wars that killed them. The dissertation combines the depictions’ patterns with academic insights about legitimating myths, modern organizations, and dead body politics to make three interrelated arguments and one overarching argument. First, while it is not obvious what cultural status military members occupied when they lived, they became culturally unassailable when they died. Second, given a military that was supposed to produce victory and the wars that resulted in 7,043 U.S. war deaths and no victory, perhaps properly depicting those who died fighting rather than winning was the overriding project. Third, by depicting their war dead as experts, heroes, and winners, U.S. military leaders symbolically marshalled them to elide the wars’ dismal realities and frame cheerful realities. The overarching argument is that the facts of social power produced the war dead, but—thanks in part to Americans’ depictions—myths of functionality explained the war dead.
URI: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01ht24wn823
Type of Material: Academic dissertations (Ph.D.)
Language: en
Appears in Collections:Public and International Affairs

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