The Falkland Islands are a unique site to investigate the complexities inherent in the intersection of war, media, memory, remembering and identity. This is because of the ways they have been continually imagined and historicized in and through media discourse; as a site of commemoration and memorialization; as a site of contested political ownership; and as a site of UK nationalist politics.
This was especially the case in the build up to and during the 30th Anniversary of the Falklands war where all of these different – and at times conflicting – ‘imaginings’ were implicitly evoked or explicitly represented in political and media rhetoric.
As with all acts of commemoration the past was recovered, re-told and remembered with particular consequences for those involved in the acts of (re)telling and remembering. The data on which Remembering the Falklands War is based was collected during this period through the combined methods of qualitative interviews, ethnographic fieldwork and textual analysis.
Because the project was originally conceived of with the British military in mind – as a lens through which to examine their wider conceptualisations of, and orientation to media management of commemoration, and in light of the on-going contestation – the first interviews were conducted with serving members of the British military in the build up to the 30th Anniversary, all of whom were were responsible, in one way or another for the management of media coverage about and around the 30th Anniversary of the Falkland’s war.
Observational fieldwork and further qualitative interviews were then conducted during a visit to the Falklands Islands in June 2012 during a period that was officially recognised as the anniversary of the Argentinian surrender in 1982. There were a number of visitors to the Islands during this period all of whom were relevant to the commemorative activities including UK and other government representatives (for example from Guernsey, Gibraltar), returning veterans, veteran families and the media. With the exception of three Reuters journalists, all of the media representatives were from British media organisations including the BBC.
Interviews were conducted with many of these visitors but the primary focus of the book rests upon those conducted with the Falkland Islanders. This was complimented by data gathered through observational fieldwork with Islanders and the BBC who are also a key feature of the book.
Combined, this ethnographic data permitted insight into some of the complex shared remembering practices that resulted from interactions between the Islanders and veterans, Islanders and media, and the veterans and media on which Remembering the Falklands War is based.
Featured Image: Road sign, Port Stanley, Falkland Islands June 2012. © Sarah Maltby
