Major General Blackshear M. Bryan, U.S. Army (2nd from left), Senior Member of the Military Armistice Commission, United Nations’ Command, exchanges credentials with Major General Lee Sang Cho, North Korean Army (3rd from right), Senior Communist delegate, at the Conference Building at Panmunjom, Korea, 28 July 1953. This was the day after the Korean War Armistice went into effect. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives via Naval History and Heritage Command.
On July 27th, 1953, the Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State established an uneasy ceasefire, ending a war that the U.S. had fought, but never formally declared. Sometimes overshadowed in U.S. twentieth-century historiography by the Second World War and the Vietnam War, the Korean War was anything but forgotten for those touched by its violence. The devastating conflict impacted the lives of millions and had lasting implications for U.S. international relations and domestic politics.
In anticipation of the seventieth anniversary of the armistice, Process invites proposals and submissions for an upcoming series on the Korean War. We are open to articles addressing pertinent aspects of the conflict from a wide variety of historical lenses, including the military, political, legal, cultural, environmental, or diplomatic histories of the conflict. Submissions might address aspects of the conflict and its aftermath, such as: gender, sexuality, and civilian and military relations; the conflict’s physical, mental, and emotional impacts and their legacies; the role of media and popular culture in shaping the conflict and perceptions of the war; South Korean–U.S. diplomacy; the role of race, gender, sexuality in shaping perceptions and perpetration of violence; reactions to the Armistice; the implications of the war’s uncertain ending for American foreign policy; the war’s legacy among Korean Americans; remembering and forgetting “the forgotten war,” and many other topics not listed here. We welcome submissions that adopt global, transnational, or comparative perspectives, but articles should touch on at least some aspect of American involvement in the war.
Articles must be written for a public readership and should not exceed 1500 words. Submissions must articulate clear thesis statements and use evidence to back their claims. We hope to receive and publish pieces from late June through July 2023 but are open to submissions past that deadline. Send proposals and drafts to blog@oah.org.
