Collective Memory of Generations of the Iran-Iraq War

This study aims to explore the collective memory of generations of the Iran-Iraq war as a social fact in the contemporary Iranian society. Generation, as a social framework, affects a variety of people’s memories of the event of war. Therefore, to conceptualize the collective memory of war we studied the possible configurations of war among different age groups. In this regard, we based the study on theoretical concept of collective memory and raised questions about the essence and construction of collective memory of generations of war. To answer these questions, by adopting a qualitative method, 38 people were interviewed through deep and semi-structured interviews by means of purposeful and theoretical sampling. Collected data were analyzed by the method of thematic coding in the background of grounded theory research. The results of the analysis show that there are different configurations of the collective memory of war among different generations. In addition to the historical context of each generation, the encounters of individuals and groups with the hegemonic order and dominant ideology in society are contribute to the formation of these collective memories.