Gender debates on the stage of the urban memorial: glitter, graffiti, and bronze

Abstract

Memorial landscapes are in constant transformation and their values reshape as history is being written. What effect does public opinion have on changes to these spaces? Recently, at an iconic monument in Mexico City a heated debate surrounding gender and the reshaping of the memorial landscape has engaged officials, conservators, protestors, and the public. The preservation of the Column of Independence has been contested from a feminist angle. Re-examining collective memory and heritage preservation in this dynamic space is difficult using traditional theories and practices. This paper reveals the lack of theories and practices available to heritage practitioners to cement new expressions of communicative memory into the cultural memory enshrined in the memorial landscape. The erasure of the contributions of women in the memorial landscape is highlighted. This paper examines the possibilities for layers to be added and preserved in the memorial landscape as the evidence of shifts in collective memory.