TY - JOUR AU - Ikonomou, Haakon A. PY - 2015/12/15 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - To remember like a diplomat JF - Temp - tidsskrift for historie JA - Temp VL - 6 IS - 11 SE - Artikler DO - UR - https://tidsskrift.dk/temp/article/view/22879 SP - 50-78 AB - <p><strong>To remember like a diplomat</strong></p><p>This article investigates how a tight-knit group of multilateral economic diplomats – simply called the <em>Europeans</em> – retell their story of the shock of the Norwegian non-joining of the European Community (EC) in September 1972. Drawing on concepts from Paul Ricoeur and Iver B. Neumann, combining oral and archive-based history, this article argues that the <em>Europeans</em> have reconciled the ingrained heroic story of ‘the diplomat’ with the traumatic experience of the Norwegian ‘no’ by narrating themselves as martyrs metaphorically sacrificing themselves for a just cause. Rather than fundamentally changing their story – for example portraying themselves as failures – they elevate their cause to something unassailably virtuous: Peace in Europe.</p> ER -