ABSTRACT
This chapter is largely descriptive. I trace the dominant narrative for a hundred years from its beginning until the construction of a new narrative represented in the centennial commemoration of the event in 1998. Based on findings from archival data, eight key periods are examined in which conspicuous public reference to, or silence about, 1898 is made-the period immediately following the violence up until 1912; World War I; the late 1930s; World War II; the early 1950s; 1968-1971; early 1980s; and 1994. The time-line provided herein describes the way in which the dominant narrative has mutated over time from a coercive recanting of 1898 to the liberalism embodied in the commemorative ceremonies of 1998. My focus is threefold throughout this analysis: 1) the audience receiving the dominant narrative, 2) the actors delivering the narratives, and 3) the function or use of the dominant narrative. The framing of this chapter is guided by the research question: how and in what ways have the dominant narratives been used to maintain a hegemonic ideology and suppress other narratives?
