How to tell a war story

Cultures of demobilization and contemporary ex-combatants

Authors

  • Albert Soler Ruda Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Abstract

This article turns around the concept of demobilization cultures as a framework for historiographic analysis, understanding it as the process of construction of modern ex-combatant collectives in the 20th century, emphasizing the context of the Cold War and decolonization conflicts as a key period to explain their emergence and development as relevant subjects in crisis processes. Focusing on the characteristics and national processes of different representative cases such as Vietnam, Afghanistan, Malvinas or the Portuguese colonial wars, we seek to develop the causes of their configuration and their role as social and political subjects, as well as influential actors in processes of cultural and memorial construction.

Keywords

trauma, demovilization, war veterans, memory, XXth century, war cultures

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Author Biography

Albert Soler Ruda, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Doctorant en Història comparada política i social, GReHA, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Published

2025-01-21

How to Cite

Soler Ruda, A. (2025). How to tell a war story: Cultures of demobilization and contemporary ex-combatants. Tiempo Devorado, 10(1), 5–40. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/tdevorado.237

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