National University NEH Dialogues of War Project: Veterans Speak 2025

Program Overview

Legacies of War: Memorials and Memories of the American Civil War and the Vietnam War is a timely collaborative project for people who are interested in examining and understanding how two important wars in American history have been remembered and memorialized in the intervening years. 2025 marks two anniversaries: 160 years since the end of the Civil War and 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War. Since anniversaries often commemorate the societal importance of war, 2025 is a perfect time to examine the politics of memory as well as top-down and bottom-up commemoration practices.

The intended audience for this project is individuals who follow current events and are or have been impacted by war and struggle with its meaning. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) “Legacies of War” project centers on creating a conversational space that  draws on humanities sources to consider how the American Civil War and the Vietnam War continue to shape American life and how  Americans can better understand ourselves and our history as citizens.

We invite participants to explore the different ways communities and individuals recall and memorialize war. A central query - “who owns the memory of war?” - animates our discussion of relevant humanities materials. The question provides an overall focus for our project, and we will consider various ways to answer that question by examining how different groups and individuals remember and memorialize war, contend over its meaning, assert their points of view, and engage in active forgetting. We will ask participants to seek their own answers as we move through our discussions. This format will encourage participants to explore individually and collectively the project’s themes of personal memories, memory landscapes, selective memory/willful forgetting, and trauma and memory.

The year-long project will conduct a training and discussion program under the auspices of The NEH’s “Dialogues on the Experiences of War” initiative to discuss the legacies of these two wars and how they continue to shape the cultural and political landscape in the U.S. Working in collaboration with faculty in National University’s School of Arts, Letters, and Sciences, the National University (NU) Veteran and Military Community Center, NU veteran-student alumni, and participants from our previous dialogues program, the program will feature a 32-hour preparatory training workshop for the discussion leaders,  two public discussion groups, and a Directed Reading course on Legacies of War  for National University students.

The project has three parts.

I. The NEH Discussion Leader Preparatory Program enlists veteran leaders or veterans with a demonstrated capacity to be leaders who will help others think more deeply about the issues raised by war and military service. The Program will enhance their existing skills in using historical and literary resources and perspectives to understand and process traumatic and life-changing experiences.

The NEH Discussion Leader Preparatory Workshop focuses on developing leadership skills in the art of discussion facilitation and close reading of humanities texts  (historical monographs, fiction, memoirs, graphic novels, commentaries, speeches, visual artifacts, podcasts, and recorded public meetings). The program emphasizes personal and professional skill building using an intensive workshop format. NEH Discussion Leaders will improve their teaching, mentoring, and coaching skills while conveying the rich content of the humanities. Working with historians, professional writers, and sociologists, they will learn the art of leading discussions that create space for meaningful dialogue that enables participants to talk about their understanding of key themes in the texts as they relate to the recollection and memorialization of war. Discussion leaders will also work with guest lecturers who explain and model how to handle emotional topics and recognize the varieties of participants’ personal experiences and perspectives while maintaining a focus on the humanities sources we engage. This training includes Peer Leader Training and Advanced De-escalation Techniques for Volunteers developed by Psych Armor.

II. The NEH Discussion Program is open to all veterans and civilians who are interested in the study of the remembrance of war and the ways wars are memorialized.

The program supports the idea that reading and discussing humanities texts about the ways  wars are remembered in a supportive intellectual environment can help U.S. military veterans and civilians reflect more deeply about the issues raised by war and military service and compare their experiences and memories of war to the experiences and memories of war of people from other times and places.

The program welcomes participation from all civilians, veterans, active-duty members, and others associated with the military regardless of service branch, service years, deployment history, disability status, age, race, or gender. You do not need to be a student at National University to participate.

Participation in the discussion program and all books are free

III. National University is offering a Directed Readings course, HIS315/HIS490, based on the program’s humanities readings. There will be one online section, and one onsite section (in San Diego) open to all students for credit. Please contact the Program Assistant at legaciesofwar@nu.edu or Dr. Zukas for information at lzukas@nu.edu or 858-642-8437.