The Figure of the Soldier: Discourses of Indisputability and Heroism in a New Danish Commemorative Practice

Abstract

This article explores discourses on the Danish soldier in a new memory practice, a national Flag-Flying Day for Denmark's deployed Personnel (FFDDP), launched in 2009. Analysis of the official speeches on the FFDDP in 2013 shows that the figure of the soldier is placed in discourses linking humanitarianism, heroism, and ethics. What makes the Danish case particularly interesting is that the commemorative practice is so recent and that the discourses presented in this practice seem to already be mimicking international discourses of humanitarianism. This is shown through salient parallels between the discourses in this memory practice and trends in international law and the political discourses and commemorative practices in Britain, Denmark's closest ally in Afghanistan. Alongside this, the soldier is articulated as a veteran, both vulnerable and strong, returning to a unified nation. The article assesses that the hegemonic discourses are used to block oppositional voices against the figure of the soldier, and effectively war, in this particular commemorative context. The hegemonic discourses may reflect a political need to create a commemorative space of indisputability, where the figure of the soldier can attain heroic status regardless of the complexity of the wars of choice.

The plural of soldier is not troops: The politics of groups in legitimating militaristic violence

“…As observed by Hass, the body of the individual soldier frequently stands in for the body politic (1998). In instances of national triumph, the ‘soldier becomes a proponent for a society’s whole set of values’, an embodiment of virtue and heroism (Dahl Christensen, 2015: 355). Following collective shame or loss, the wounded body of the soldier – the veteran – comes to represent the trauma and failure of the nation (Sturken, 1997).…”

“…Critical analyses of war, the military and (usually Western) society frequently invoke key cultural figures to analytically identify, and succinctly convey, the ‘messy’ assemblages of discourse, materiality, semiotics and affect that legitimate state violence (Haraway, 1997: 8–12). Chief amongst these have been the figurative soldier – communicating idealized values of individual autonomy, masculinity and nationalist heroism (Dahl Christensen, 2015) – and the wounded veteran, suggesting themes of victimization, failure and, potentially, betrayal (Achter, 2010). Each of these figures conveys a series of metaphorical tropes (Haraway, 1997) that exceed their production within a particular time and place.…”

Gendering the new hero narratives: Military death in Denmark and Sweden

“…It has been noted that Denmark has seen a renewal of a patriotic discourse on sacrifice in which military heroism is vital to constructing nationhood (Marklund, 2013a; Refslund Sørensen, 2017). However, some researchers also stress that the contemporary narrative of the ‘return of the fallen’ includes references to the global context, democracy and human rights, whereas the masculinist, violent dimensions of heroic sacrifice are downplayed (Dahl Christensen, 2015; Marklund, 2013a).…”

‘But when I tell them about heroes, then they listen’

“…Daniel Boorstin (1992 [1961]) and Orrin E Klapp (2014 [1962]) have contributed to bringing into focus the social dynamics of the hero phenomenon, while the Changing Character of War programme at Oxford University has stressed the social construction of heroes as ‘an ongoing process in which many actors participate, and in which the meaning of heroism is contested and constantly reinterpreted’ (Scheipers, 2014: 15). Despite evidence that the soldier hero has lost some glamour in the shadows of World War I and the war in Vietnam (Calder, 2004; Mosse, 1994), a growing body of literature has persuasively shown that military heroes remain familiar figures to the armed forces, the political debate, the media, and popular culture (Christensen, 2016; Dawson, 1994; Frühstück, 2007; Goren, 2007; Kelly, 2012; Papayanis, 2010; Scheipers, 2014; Woodward, 2000). These studies have examined heroification as a discourse within society, with special reference to the formation of nationhood and masculinities.…”

“…Inspired by the USA and the UK, Denmark has developed a policy of honouring military personnel in the wake of the growing international engagement of the Danish Defence after the end of the Cold War. Denmark held its first National Flag Day for Danes Serving Abroad on 5 September 2009, a day that involved homecoming parades, the hoisting of flags, church services, and public speeches in front of the Parliament and in many provincial towns (Christensen, 2016; Reeh, 2011; Sørensen and Pedersen, 2012). As a spatial equivalent to the flag day, Parliament decided to build the Monument to Denmark’s International Effort since 1948, inaugurated by HM Queen Margrethe II in 2011, one year after the enactment of the first Danish veterans’ policy (Ministry of Defence of Denmark, 2010; Sørensen, 2016).…”