Cal Humanities

"The understanding of a culture comes from hearing the language, tasting the food, seeing personal interactions, experiencing the traditions, and so much more in context."

— Elizabeth Laval & Candice Pendergrass, Sikh Youth Public History Project

"The understanding of a culture comes from hearing the language, tasting the food, seeing personal interactions, experiencing the traditions, and so much more when it is in context."

— Elizabeth Laval & Candice Pendergrass, Sikh Youth Public History Project

War Comes Home: Carol Burke

Carol Burke is a Professor of English and Folklore at UC Irvine.

Carol Burke is a Professor of English and Folklore at UC Irvine who specializes in military culture and veterans. As a folklorist, she embedded with US Army combat units in Iraq and Afghanistan as cultural liaison.

“With the return of the veteran, a nation must be willing to take on the moral responsibility of asking some of our citizens to execute violence against another nation on our behalf.  And if the nation isn’t prepared to assume that moral responsibility, the return home is going to be fraught with all kinds of complicated psychological issues that fall then squarely on the shoulders of the individual vet.  And that moral responsibility can’t be held by veteran after veteran.  It has to be assumed by the nation.”