National University NEH Dialogues of War Project: Veterans Speak 2025

Workshop Overview:

NEH Discussion Leaders (DLs) undergo a comprehensive 32-hour, 4-day training workshop to become peer leaders. During the workshop, they study the remembrance of two significant wars — the American Civil War and the Vietnam War — and engage with core readings and other materials to deepen their understanding of memory, remembrance, and collective perceptions of the past. DLs practice close readings of the humanities texts and other materials used in the Discussion Groups and train in discussion-facilitation techniques. Faculty trainers and guest lecturers will guide participants in conducting discussions that foster deep, meaningful conversations. Participants will learn how to facilitate discussions connecting themes in humanities texts to personal experiences of war and maintain their detachment as facilitators. Drs. Alex Zukas, Niels Eichhorn, and Duncan Campbell will model discussion methods adapted from Sally Brown’s “The Art of Teaching in Small Groups.” Recognizing and working with the varieties of personal experiences and perspectives that emerge in group discussions, they will focus on techniques that promote maximum participation and thematic discussions. Dr. Susan Dixon will introduce the use of writing prompts in discussion facilitation. Trainees will practice these various techniques in small groups, enabling them to develop a comfortable facilitation style. We are partnering with Psych/Armor to provide self-paced Peer Leader Training developed in partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project. Dr. Tina Atherall, the Chief Executive Officer of Psych/Armor, will run a workshop for discussion leaders on advanced de-escalation techniques for volunteers. In addition, Mr. Kevin Basl, who has served as a NEH discussion leader and led a successful Dialogues program, will lead a workshop on writing after war and facilitating discussions among civilians, veterans, service members, and their communities.

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Required Reading:

Facilitating Neutral Discussions

• Abram, Ruth J. “Kitchen Conversations: Democracy in Action at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.” The Public Historian 29, 1 (2007): 59–76.
• Russell-CiardiI, Maggie. “The Museum as a Democracy-Building Institution: Reflections on the Shared Journeys Program at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.” The Public Historian 30, 1 (2008): 39–52.

Understanding and Working with Memory

• Cubitt, Geoffrey. History and Memory (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013).
• Gedi, Noa, and Yigal Elam. “Collective Memory — What Is It?” History and Memory 8, 1 (1996): 30–50.
• Glassberg, David. “Public History and the Study of Memory.” The Public Historian 18, 2 (1996): 7–23.
• Klay, Phil. Artists and Activists Both Have a Role, But Not the Same One. The New York Times Magazine, August 5, 2024.
• Klay, Phil. "After War, a Failure of the Imagination," February 8, 2014, The New York Times. 4-5
• Kushner, Tony. “Alienated memories: migrants and the silences of the archive,” in Joan Tumblety, ed., Memory and History: Understanding Memory as Source and Subject (London: Routledge, 2013), 177-193.
• Nguyen, Viet Thanh. “Just Memory: War and the Ethics of Remembrance.” American Literary History 25, 1 (2013): 144–63.

Issues & debates around Civil War Memory & Monuments

• Cox, Karen L. Dixie's Daughters: The United Daughters of the Confederacy (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2019), 28-72, 93-117.
• Domby, Adam H. The False Cause: Fraud, Fabrication, and White Supremacy in Confederate Memory (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2020), 13-45.
• Smith, Timothy B. The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation: The Decade of the 1890s and the Establishment of America's First Five Military Parks (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2008), 51-85.

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Schedule (November 1-2 and 15-16, 2025)(1)
We will meet for eight hours a day with training activities scheduled generally in 50 to 60-minute blocks. There will be short breaks in the morning and afternoon, and a 1.5-hour lunch break each day. The Zoom session will remain open for those who wish to have a virtual lunch and continue the conversation. The lunch period provides time to handle personal tasks and take a break from the screen.

Day 1: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Introductions, Project Orientation, Learning Discussion Facilitation
● Discuss competing ideas of memory and memorialization with readings from Glassberg, Gedi, Tumblety, and Cubitt (Dr. Niels Eichhorn).
● Examine collective memory and the impact of war with readings from Klay and Nguyen (Dr. Susan Dixon).
● Learn discussion facilitation techniques adapted from Sally Brown’s “The Art of Teaching in Small Groups.” Practice leading small-group discussions using Abram and Russell-Ciardil  Drs. Alex Zukas and Duncan Campbell.
● Consider writing prompts as a way to facilitate discussion (Dr. Susan Dixon).
● Hold a discussion on the experience of being an NEH discussion leader and peer-mentor (Mr. Kevin Basl).

Day 2: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Memory and Memorialization in the American Civil War
● Train peer leaders: learning discussion facilitation that encourages safe, open dialogue in uncomfortable situations or in facing disagreements (2-hour Psych Armor).
● Discuss Civil War memoryscapes as a tool for reconciliation using Smith, The Golden Age of Battlefield Preservation, and model discussion of the Chickamauga & Chattanooga National Military Park (Drs. Campbell, Eichhorn).
● Examine personal remembrances using the Monument of Silent Sam at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Campus with the dedication speech from Julius Carr in Domby’s The False Cause (Drs. Campbell, Eichhorn) and modeling small-group breakout discussions.
● Use primary sources and Dixie's Daughters to spark discussion about gender and memory (Dr. Campbell)
● Practice small-group discussion facilitation with writing prompts using Smith, Domby (Drs. Eichhorn, Zukas, Campbell, & Dixon).

Day 3: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Collective Memory and Personal Journeys: the Vietnam War
● Introduce the American War in Vietnam through history and memoir (Drs. Zukas & Dixon).
● Process multiple perspectives on the Vietnam War (Professor Wayne Karlin).
● Practice large-group discussion facilitation using writing prompts from Seeking Quan Am and The Best We Could Do (Dr. Dixon).
● Discuss writing about war, trauma, and personal memory (Mr. Alfred J. Moore).
● Model small-group discussion facilitation using visual and other sources like the Vietnam Memorial and Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision (Drs. Dixon and Zukas)

Day 4: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
● Discussion Leaders facilitate a mock discussion using a NEH Discussion Group reading and articulate at least two program themes (30-minute presentations). Questions and feedback to follow each discussion.
 

(1) Participants will be provided the schedule and readings one month prior to the first meeting.