Thomas Gustafson |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 19 of 19 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max) if available
medium (500x500 max) if available
Large (1000x1000 max) if available
Extra Large
Full Resolution
Archival Image
All (PDF)
|
This page
All
|
There’s been a deep coverup. We study our “good wars”, the Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, or World War II. We tend to forget our darker, more problematic wars, like the wars with Native Americans, the war with Mexico. You can say, “Is that the same thing that’s already happened with the Vietnam War?” I always feel very much the struggle of power against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. For me as a historian, and someone who lives literary history and cultural history, it’s trying to learn from the past and to remember so much of what we want to forget, but we like forgetting some of the ugly things: we want to forget about them, we want to move on, and things like that. I’ve seen it happen to the war with Mexico, the wars with Native Americans, and you see it happening to the Vietnam War. We just don’t teach that stuff, we forget about it, we move on; or else you know it through the movies, or it gets invoked in very problematic ways. And so, we replicate it again.
Object Description
| Profile of | Thomas Gustafson |
| Title | Thomas Gustafson: Growing Up in America During the Vietnam War |
| Profile bio | Our group had the pleasure and honor of interviewing USC Associate Professor of English, American Studies, and Ethnicity Thomas Gustafson. Gustafson was approximately 13 years old and coming of age during the height of the American War in Vietnam. He grew up in a conservative, mostly White suburbia in New Jersey, but attended a much more liberal high school during the years he began to form his own opinions about the war. He went on to attend Yale University to pursue a B.A. in English and history, and pursued a PH.D. in English at Stanford University. Today he focuses on political discourse in language, politics of language, and literature of the American West. Gustafson attributes his choice to pursue politics and history to his upbringing in the highly politically active years of the Vietnam War. |
| Profiler bio | The profilers for this project are Kathleen Moore, Natalia Saucedo, and TJ Darcy. Kathleen grew up in Sacramento, California and attended USC to pursue a degree in business to be completed in 2018.; Natalia Saucedo is a political science major originating from Culver City, CA and will be graduating in 2019.; TJ Darcy grew up in Valley Stream, New York and attended USC to pursue a degree in computer science major with an emphasis in games. He will be graduating in spring 2016. |
| Subject | Profile |
| Profiled by | Moore, Kathleen; Darcy, TJ; Saucedo, Natalia |
| Profile date | 2016-04-07 |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Elizabeth; New Haven; Palo Alto |
| Geographic subject (county) | Union; New Haven; Santa Clara |
| Geographic subject (state) | New Jersey; Connecticut; California |
| Geographic subject (country) | USA |
| Coverage date | 1953 |
| Publisher (of the original version) | http://anotherwarmemorial.com/thomas-gustafson-growing-up-in-america-during-the-vietnam-war/ |
| Type |
images video |
| Format | 1 image; 11 video files (00:11:16); 11 transcripts |
| Language | English |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Part of collection | An Other War Memorial -- Memories of the American War in Viet Nam |
| Filename | gustafsonthomas |
Description
| Profile of | Thomas Gustafson |
| Title | Interview Transcription |
| Format | 1 transcript, 1p. |
| Filename | gustafsonthomas-vid9_tr9.pdf |
| Full text | There’s been a deep coverup. We study our “good wars”, the Revolution, the Civil War, World War I, or World War II. We tend to forget our darker, more problematic wars, like the wars with Native Americans, the war with Mexico. You can say, “Is that the same thing that’s already happened with the Vietnam War?” I always feel very much the struggle of power against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting. For me as a historian, and someone who lives literary history and cultural history, it’s trying to learn from the past and to remember so much of what we want to forget, but we like forgetting some of the ugly things: we want to forget about them, we want to move on, and things like that. I’ve seen it happen to the war with Mexico, the wars with Native Americans, and you see it happening to the Vietnam War. We just don’t teach that stuff, we forget about it, we move on; or else you know it through the movies, or it gets invoked in very problematic ways. And so, we replicate it again. |
| Archival file | Volume3/gustafsonthomas-vid9_tr9.pdf |
