MYTHIC HISTORY AND NATIONAL MEMORY - THE PEARL-HARBOR ANNIVERSARY

The concept of 'mythic history' points to the role of public history a s moral narrative, a form of identity discourse that works to create s ocial and emotional meaning. The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II represents one such mythi cized moment in American national history. This paper examines the int erplay of various narrative practices used to mark the 50th anniversar y of that event, including media representations and official ceremoni al events. Analysis of the discursive properties of Pearl Harbor narra tives suggests that mythic histories tend to sharpen the contours of n ational time and space, representing the past in terms of episodic jun ctures and representing national selves and others in terms of polariz ed agencies.