When we occupy the spaces of war memorials, we respond with certain bodily comportments that relay the “truth” of those killed by war violence. Through a phenomenological examination of embodied responses to two war memorials, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, I argue that social institutions employ bodies as a means of legitimizing a violence that is seen as redemptive. More specifically, I demonstrate how the redemptive quality of certain types of violence is an assumption replicated in social practices where individuals have learned the particular bodily skills of discourses surrounding redemptive violence.

当我们占据战争纪念馆的空间时，我们会以某些身体上的反应来回应，以传达那些因战争暴力而丧生的人的“真相”。通过对两种战争纪念物，越南退伍军人纪念墙和阿灵顿国家公墓的无名战士墓的具体反应的现象学研究，我认为社会机构利用尸体作为使暴力合法化的手段，这被认为是可以救赎的。更具体地说，我证明了某些类型的暴力的救赎质量是在社会实践中复制的一种假设，在这种实践中，个人已经学会了围绕救赎性暴力的特定身体技巧。