Apocalypse and Anniversary: America’s Bicentennial
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Apocalypse and Anniversary : America’s Bicentennial. / Goddard, Joseph.
Terminus: The End in Literature, Media and Culture. ed. / Brian Russell Graham ; Robert W. Rix. Aalborg Universitetsforlag, 2013. p. 81-107 (Interdisciplinære kulturstudier, Vol. 5).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - Apocalypse and Anniversary
AU - Goddard, Joseph
PY - 2013/12
Y1 - 2013/12
N2 - “Apocalypse and Anniversary” trains its focus on the environments surrounding the planning of the American Bicentennial, initiated in 1966 and cumulating in the July 4, 1976 celebrations. Domestic conflict, fuelled by the war in Vietnam, Watergate, social revolution, sexual revolution, generational revolution, systemic estrangement, and a collapse in national self-belief, combined to such an extent during the period 1966-76 period that the aims and goals of the celebrations as expressed by politicians, policymakers, and ordinary people were profoundly changed. Initial consensus around a forward-looking celebration of American progress broke along with an American self belief based in the modern era, to be replaced with backward-looking scrambles and constructions for unity in a less-troubled past. This search focused on a common story as a unifying force in American history. Researching and interrogating government documents, news-media, magazines, and popular culture, this essay scrutinizes the role of the bicentennial celebrations in fashioning a new heritage consensus and reworking Americans’ perceptions of their past in response to the apocalyptic era preceding the festivities. Apocalypse in this essay is not used in a final sense, but in terms of the passing followed by the propagation of different national self conceptions. A reexamination of the effects of the1976 U.S. Bicentennial is timely, as the debate on how to plan and celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary begins.
AB - “Apocalypse and Anniversary” trains its focus on the environments surrounding the planning of the American Bicentennial, initiated in 1966 and cumulating in the July 4, 1976 celebrations. Domestic conflict, fuelled by the war in Vietnam, Watergate, social revolution, sexual revolution, generational revolution, systemic estrangement, and a collapse in national self-belief, combined to such an extent during the period 1966-76 period that the aims and goals of the celebrations as expressed by politicians, policymakers, and ordinary people were profoundly changed. Initial consensus around a forward-looking celebration of American progress broke along with an American self belief based in the modern era, to be replaced with backward-looking scrambles and constructions for unity in a less-troubled past. This search focused on a common story as a unifying force in American history. Researching and interrogating government documents, news-media, magazines, and popular culture, this essay scrutinizes the role of the bicentennial celebrations in fashioning a new heritage consensus and reworking Americans’ perceptions of their past in response to the apocalyptic era preceding the festivities. Apocalypse in this essay is not used in a final sense, but in terms of the passing followed by the propagation of different national self conceptions. A reexamination of the effects of the1976 U.S. Bicentennial is timely, as the debate on how to plan and celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary begins.
KW - Faculty of Humanities
KW - Amerikas 200 års dag
KW - bicentennial celebrations
KW - national self conceptions
KW - America 1966-76
M3 - Book chapter
SN - 978-87-7112-119-3
T3 - Interdisciplinære kulturstudier
SP - 81
EP - 107
BT - Terminus
A2 - Graham , Brian Russell
A2 - Rix, Robert W.
PB - Aalborg Universitetsforlag
Y2 - 2 May 2012 through 3 May 2012
ER -
ID: 137981851