Description
Book SynopsisMonument Culture: International Perspectives on the Future of Monuments in a Changing World brings together a collection of essays from scholars and cultural critics working on the meanings of monuments and memorials in the second decade of the twenty-first century, a time of great social and political change. The book encourages readers to have a broad view of the challenges facing individuals and society in making sense of public monuments with contested meanings, and the ways in which differing places approach monuments in a landscape where institutions and ideas are under direct challenge from political and social unrest and sharply changed attitudes about the representation of history and memory in the public sphere. The goal is to acknowledge shared experiences through a wider perspective; to contribute to the work of the world-wide heritage community; and to document through publication the history and shifting cultural attitudes towards monument culture across the world, encouraging a more informed approach to monuments and their meanings especially for the public and those outside of academia. The book presents a broad view of the challenges facing individuals and society in making sense of public monuments with contested meanings, and the ways in which differing places, from the United States to Europe to Africa to Australia and New Zealand to South America and beyond, approach monuments in a landscape where institutions and ideas are under direct challenge from political and social unrest and sharply changed attitudes about the representation of history and memory in the public sphere.
Trade ReviewMacaluso’s Monument Culture features a wide-ranging, insightful group of essays that span the globe and illuminate one of the most critical issues of our time. From Antarctica to South Korea and beyond, this book is essential reading to understand how communities choose to remember and memorialize the contested past. -- David B. Allison, editor of Controversial Monuments and Memorials: A Guide for Community Leaders
The authors in Monument Culture do not promise solutions to the conundrums posed by monuments in today’s world. Instead, you’ll find something much more challenging and enriching—a transnational survey of commemorative practices that will lead readers to question their beliefs about the cultural work of monuments. -- Modupe Labode, Associate Professor, History and Museum Studies and Public Scholar of African American History and Museums, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis
Table of ContentsPreface & Introduction Laura A. Macaluso Section 1: Monument Culture Leading Essay Chapter 1 Homage to Charlottesville: The Spanish Civil War and the International Legacy of the U.S. Monuments Debate Alex Vernon Section 2: Monument Culture: Land, People and Place Chapter 2 Implications of Erasure in Polynesia Carmen S. Tomfohrde Chapter 3 Monuments in Antarctica: Commemoration of Historic Events or Claims for Sovereignty? Ingo Heidbrink Chapter 4 Phnom Penh’s Independence Monument and Vientiane’s Patuxai: Complex Symbols of Postcolonial Nationhood in Cold War-era Southeast Asia Roger Nelson Chapter 5 Enshrining Racial Hierarchy through Settler Commemoration in the American West Cynthia C. Prescott Section 3: Monument Culture: Trauma/Violence and Reconciliation/Reparations Chapter 6 In Defense of Historical Stains: How Clean Approaches to the Past Can Keep Us Dirty Dan Haumschild Chapter 7 Repairing and Reconciling with the Past: El Ojo que Llora and Peru’s Public Monuments Ṅusta Carranza Ko Chapter 8 Ruptures and Continuities in the Post-Apartheid Political and Cultural Landscape: A Reading of South African Monument Culture Runette Kruger Chapter 9 Beyond Ruins: Borgoño’s Barracks and the Struggle Over Memory in Today’s Chile Basil Abdelrazeq Farraj Section 4: Monument Culture: Migration and Identity Chapter 10 Iconoclasm and Imperial Symbols: The Gough and Victoria Monuments in Ireland and the British World, 1880-1990 Derek N. Boetcher Chapter 11 Monuments of Refugee Identity: Pain, Unity and Belonging in Three Monuments of Cappadocian Greeks Zeliha Nilüfer Nahya and Saim Örnek Chapter 12 Kindertransports in National and International Memory Amy Williams Chapter 13 A Cubist Portrait of Christopher Columbus: Studying Monuments as Transcultural Works Chiara Grilli Section 5: Monument Culture: Ambiguities and Alternatives Chapter 14 Visible Differently: Roni Horn’s Vatnasafn/Library of Water as Memorial Elliot Krasnopoler Chapter 15 Monuments and Other Things that Change: Several Attempts at Titling a Photograph Masha Vlasova Chapter 16 Illegal Monuments: Memorials between Crime and State Endorsement Nauskiaä El-Mecky Chapter 17 Transnational Social Media Monuments, Counter Monuments, and the Future of the Nation-State Johnny Alam Section 6: Monument Culture: Strategies and Actions Chapter 18 Citizens as Walking Memorials: Rethinking the Monument Genre in the 21st Century Tanja Schult Chapter 19 Exhibiting Spectacle and Recasting Memory: Commemorating the First World War in New Zealand Kingsley Baird Chapter 20 Dealing with a Dictatorial Past: Fascist Monuments and Conflicting Memory in Contemporary Italy Flaminia Bartolini Chapter 21 Avoiding Iconoclasm: How the Counter-Monument Could Settle a Monumental Debate Scott McDonald Section 7: Monument Culture Closing Essay Chapter 22 On Creating a Useable Future: An Introduction to Future Monuments Evander Price
