Whenever I encounter a new or unfamiliar term, one of the first things I do is look up its definition. The long 68 is something I had never heard of prior to this class, and its elusive nature and lack of a set definition make understanding the time period and its events more difficult for me. When I’m learning, I like having rules and definitions and order\u201468 is the exact opposite. Enoch Powell referred to it simply as \u201cThe Thing,\u201d and leaders of student, political, and racial protests of the time period often loosely defined their movements by what they opposed rather than what they supported. Even Richard Vinen, as a historian who has extensively studied 68, struggles to define the \u201cwhat,\u201d \u201cwhen,\u201d and \u201cwhere\u201d of this period of rebellion and sustained conflict. While 68 has an incredibly complicated and nuanced history, our discussions in class so far have demonstrated that it can also be somewhat defined by the strong labels that mark its conflicts: anti-Vietnam, student, Black vs. white, Catholic vs. Protestant, the New Left and the counterculture. What I find interesting about 68 is the effect of labels on the conflicts of 68 and on the literature produced during and in response to it. I\u2019m curious about how the polarizing language of these labels, often with ambiguous or shifting meanings, plays into the rise of the memoir and autobiography of young people involved in 68 in the U.S. and Ireland, as they seek to define and redefine themselves amidst the chaos of the time period. I look forward to exploring how the emphasis on personal storytelling by key players of 68\u2014from Huey P. Newton and Bernadette Devlin to the Catonsville Nine and Chicago Eight\u2014is shaped by the confusion and ambiguity surrounding the events and language of 68, and how these memoirs then shape our understanding of 68 and its implications today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whenever I encounter a new or unfamiliar term, one of the first things I do is look up its definition. The long 68 is something I had never heard of prior to this class, and its elusive nature and lack of a set definition make understanding the time period and its events more difficult for … <\/p>\n