Revisiting the past: social organisation of remembering and reconciliation

The thesis examines social practices of reconciliation regarding British prisoners of war's experience of captivity by the Japanese in World War II. It draws on theoretical issues of social remembering, discursive psychology and discourse analysis. It concerns the social organisation of identity and accountability, i.e., ways in which issues of identity, blame, apology and forgiveness concerning past actions and events are used to address the significance of reconciliation. Talk and texts are examined to understand how private and collective memories of the past are mobilised and made relevant to present and future lives of the POWs. [Continues.]