Memories of War: Trauma and Silence in the
Narratives of Black Vietnam Veterans is an
interdisciplinary examination of how the trauma of
the Vietnam War affected Black Vietnam Veterans and
manifested itself into a profound silence and how
that silence affected the telling of their stories
and experiences of the war. Narratives of
Black Vietnam Veterans and oral histories
are examined to demonstrate how the trauma of war
have altered or misconstrued their narratives and
how their participation in the Vietnam War has been
discredited and how this has led to their
silence, invisibility, and misrepresentation in both
Vietnam War and American literature.
Within their narratives, they continuously grapple
with their two-ness, the double consciousness of
fighting for a country that deprived them of their
inalienable rights as human beings--of being both a
Black soldier in the first war with integrated
troops and being treated as second class citizens
when they returned home. Memories of War brings to
the forefront of the American literary landscape the
voices and memories of those Black Vietnam Veterans
who have so often been forgotten.
Narratives of Black Vietnam Veterans is an
interdisciplinary examination of how the trauma of
the Vietnam War affected Black Vietnam Veterans and
manifested itself into a profound silence and how
that silence affected the telling of their stories
and experiences of the war. Narratives of
Black Vietnam Veterans and oral histories
are examined to demonstrate how the trauma of war
have altered or misconstrued their narratives and
how their participation in the Vietnam War has been
discredited and how this has led to their
silence, invisibility, and misrepresentation in both
Vietnam War and American literature.
Within their narratives, they continuously grapple
with their two-ness, the double consciousness of
fighting for a country that deprived them of their
inalienable rights as human beings--of being both a
Black soldier in the first war with integrated
troops and being treated as second class citizens
when they returned home. Memories of War brings to
the forefront of the American literary landscape the
voices and memories of those Black Vietnam Veterans
who have so often been forgotten.