Memory and the Impact of Political Transformation in Public Space

Autor: Walkowitz, Daniel J.; Knauer, Lisa Maya
Editor: Duke University Press
Colección: Radical Perspectives
ISBN: 9780822333777
eISBN Pdf: 9780822386346
Lugar de publicación: Durham , Estados Unidos
Año de publicación digital: 2004
Mes: Noviembre
Páginas: 336
DDC: 720/.1/03
Idioma: Ingles

Descripción

Memory and the Impact of Political Transformation in Public Space explores the effects of major upheavals—wars, decolonization, and other social and economic changes—on the ways in which public histories are presented around the world. Examining issues related to public memory in twelve countries, the histories collected here cut across political, cultural, and geographic divisions. At the same time, by revealing recurring themes and concerns, they show how basic issues of history and memory transcend specific sites and moments in time. A number of the essays look at contests over public memory following two major political transformations: the wave of liberation from colonial rule in much of Africa, Asia, and Central and South America during the second half of the twentieth century and the reorganization of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet bloc beginning in the late 1980s.

This collection expands the scope of what is considered public history by pointing to silences and absences that are as telling as museums and memorials. Contributors remind us that for every monument that is erected, others—including one celebrating Sri Lanka’s independence and another honoring the Unknown Russian Soldier of World War II—remain on the drawing board. While some sites seem woefully underserved by a lack of public memorials—as do post–Pinochet Chile and post–civil war El Salvador—others run the risk of diluting meaning through overexposure, as may be happening with Israel’s Masada. Essayists examine public history as it is conveyed not only in marble and stone but also through cityscapes and performances such as popular songs and parades.

Contributors
James Carter
John Czaplicka
Kanishka Goonewardena
Lisa Maya Knauer
Anna Krylova
Teresa Meade
Bill Nasson
Mary Nolan
Cynthia Paces
Andrew Ross
Daniel Seltz
T. M. Scruggs
Irina Carlota Silber
Daniel J. Walkowitz
Yael Zerubavel

Contents
About the Series
Introduction by Lisa Maya Knauer and Daniel J. Walkowitz
Monuments: Built and Unbuilt
- Wallace's Monument and the Resumption of Scotland by Andrew Ross
- The Fall and Rise of Prague's Marian Column by Cythia Paces
- Aborted Identity: The Comission and Omission of a Monument to the Nation, Sri Lanka, circa 1989 by Kanishka Goonewardena
- Dancing on the Graves of the Dead: Building a World War II Memorial in Post-Soviet Russia by Anna Krylova
Museums
- The Politics of Memory in the Bonn and Berlin Republics by Mary Nolan
- Remembering the War and the Atomic Bombs: New Museums, New Approaches by Daniel Seltz
Cityscapes
- Touring Harbin's Pasts by James Carter
- The Palace Ruins and Putting the Lithuanian Nation into Place: Historical Stagings in Vilnius by John Czaplicka
Memory Sites: Marked and Unmarked:
- Holding the Junta Accountable: Chile's "Sitios de Memoria" and the History of Torture, Disappearance, and Death by Teresa Meade
- Commemorating the Past in Postwar El Salvador by Irina Carlota Silber
- The Politics of Rememberance and the Consumption of Space: Masada in Israeli Memory by Yael Zerubavel
Performative Commemorations
- Music, Memory, and the Politics of Erasure in Nicaragua by T. M. Scruggs
- Commemorating the Anglo-Boer War in Postapartheid South Africa by Bill Nasson
Bibliography
Discography
Notes on Contributors
Index