ABSTRACT
In this article, I analyse 15 Canadian military museums that tend towards a patriotic antagonistic approach to war that favours a narrative of masculine heroism on the battlefield. I argue that, instead, war and military museums (not just in Canada, but in other national contexts) should acknowledge complexity and controversy through the use of agonistic memory. They should take a multivocal multiperspective approach by telling the stories of those on both (all) sides of a war, connecting the homefront with the frontlines, and acknowledging the roles of societal systems in war and violence. I note certain exceptions to an unproblematized narrative of war that can be used as a template of sorts to bring a gender analysis and critical thought into military museums in order to problematize war, its representations, and its connection to society.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Canada was a dominion of the British Empire in 1914 that was self-governing except for foreign affairs.
2. I could find no military museums in the northern territories of Canada.
3. See Clover, Taber and Sanford (Citation2018) for a brief analysis of six of these museums.
4. See Clover, Taber, and Sanford (Citation2018) for a discussion of this stagecrafting.