Historical re-enacting and affective authority: performing the American Civil War

Abstract

Drawing on historical materials, manuals and semi-structured interviews, this paper examines the performative dimensions of American Civil War battle re-enacting. Unlike traditional leisure-based national rituals such as public holidays and days of remembrance, it is argued that the main political power of this re-enactment rite is not social integration of the group or selective portrayal of history but providing participants with certain moods and motivations that result in subsequent activism. This principally occurs through secondary performances where re-enactors voluntarily give talks and demonstrations at museums and schools where they propagate literal understandings of history and challenge the popular belief that the war was fought over slavery. While social theory has highlighted the role of leisure within new social movements, this has typically been orientated to political progressivism. In contrast, Civil War re-enacting provides insights into the significance of play for political orthodoxy.

Keywords:

• re-enacting
• living history
• ritual
• performance
• culture wars
• collective memory

Acknowledgements

The author appreciates support and feedback on the project and paper by Priscilla Dunk-West, Jodie George, Paul Higate, Ronald Jacobs, Barry Schwartz, Philip Smith and Eleanor Townsley.

Funding

The fieldwork for this article was possible due to funds from the University of Queensland and visiting fellowships in the sociology departments at Gettysburg College and the University of Georgia.

Notes on contributor

Dr Brad West is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of South Australia, having previously held posts at the University of Bristol, Flinders University and Kings College London. Amongst his professional duties he sits on the advisory editorial boards of the American Journal of Cultural Sociology, the Journal of Sociology and Tourist Studies. His research focuses on the changing dynamics of national collective memory. This involves moving beyond analysis of traditional state sanctioned commemorative forms to examine the multiple ways in which key historical events are challenged and often undertake a process of rejuvenation in the framing of contemporary social life. Current research projects in this area include analysis of the eye witness genre of media reporting in the 2002 Bali Bombing and 2004 South Asian Tsunami; and the broader political influence of ‘dark tourism’ at war sites in Vietnam and pilgrimage like activity at the WWI Gallipoli battlefields in Turkey.

Notes

1. The purpose of this paper is not to engage in debates about the essential characteristics of contemporary leisure forms in relation to authenticity (MacCannell 2001; Urry and Larsen 2012). Rather it argues that this particular type of re-enacting widely involves a meaningful search for historical authenticity through simulating the past. This differs from other forms of re-enacting and other engagements with the past that involve greater levels of ironic portrayal and interpretation.

2. This cultural divide is illustrated in a National Parks Service (NPS) study into re-enactors. NPS personnel state that they are troubled by both the desire of re-enactors to recreate combat and the impossibility to do so accurately, with battle re-enacting providing spectators with a stimulating but eventually sanitized portrayal of the destructive horror of war (Stanton 1999, 23).

Additional information

Funding

Funding: The fieldwork for this article was possible due to funds from the University of Queensland and visiting fellowships in the sociology departments at Gettysburg College and the University of Georgia.