Memorial Landscape Research Articles

Participatory Historical Village Landscape Analysis Using a Virtual Globe-Based 3D PGIS: Guizhou, China

The analysis of historical village landscape characteristics and the influential driving factors of their evolutions can provide an essential decision-making basis for rural sustainable development strategies and landscape planning. How to obtain historical village landscape data at a time when objectively recorded data, such as remote sensing images, were unavailable is a key problem that restricts the analysis of village landscape evolution characteristics. As local villagers are important knowledge sources regarding historical village landscapes, a participatory data collection and analysis approach was used for village historical landscape data in this paper using a virtual globe-based three-dimensional participatory geographic information system (3D PGIS). Taking Duimengshan village, Guizhou, China, as a case study, the 3D landscape of the Duimengshan village and corresponding major historical events in four historical periods, 1958, 1980, 1995, and 2015, were collected in an on-site, interactive way by researchers with the participation of local villagers, and its land-use structure, ecosystem service values, and landscape pattern were analyzed. The results show that the historical landscapes in the four periods were strongly related to important local historical events. The 3D PGIS greatly mobilized the enthusiasm of villagers to participate with its intuitive 3D display form and simple and easy-to-use operation mode. It can be concluded that the historical landscape memory of local villagers and the oral inheritance information handed down from generation to generation can be utilized to make up for the lack of remote sensing and other objective data in the collection and acquisition of historical village landscape data. The obtained historical village landscape characteristics and their evolution laws can be used in future participatory rural planning and landscape design.

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

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.

Lost in Transition: Removing, Resettling, and Renewing Appalachia

Lost in Transition: Removing, Resettling, and Renewing Appalachia

New Trends in Museum and Memory Studies: A Way Forward for Central and Eastern Europe?

New Trends in Museum and Memory Studies:A Way Forward for Central and Eastern Europe? Tadeusz Wojtych (bio) Smith, Laurajane. Emotional Heritage: Visitor Engagement at Museums and Heritage Sites. Routledge Abingdon and New York, 2021. xiv + 338 pp. Illustrations. Tables. Notes. References. Index. £130.00; £36.99; £27.74 (e-book). Jaeger, Stephan. The Second World War in the Twenty-First-Century Museum: From Narrative, Memory, and Experience to Experientiality. Media and Cultural Memory, 26. De Gruyter Berlin and Boston, MA, 2020. viii + 354 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. £91.50; £21.00; open access e-book. Maruszewski, Tomasz. Gdzie podziewa się nasza pamięć: Od pamięci autobiograficznej do pamięci zbiorowej. Mistrzowie Psychologii. Smak Słowa, Sopot, 2019. 296 pp. Illustrations. Bibliography. Index. Zł49.90. Introduction In 2017, the historically-minded public in Poland — and soon elsewhere in Europe and America — was polarised by developments at the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. The museum's director Karol Nawrocki, freshly appointed by the ruling populist-conservatives, unveiled a new vision for the permanent exhibition: the existing, more transnational narrative was to be replaced by a tale of Polish heroism and martyrdom.1 [End Page 728] Nawrocki's plans not only caused heated debates in the press and on social media, but also led to the creation of two online counter-museums — one on a website, and the other on Facebook — which remained loyal to the exhibition's original narrative.2 The debates around the Museum of the Second World War, which intensified in 2017 and continue to this day, encapsulate several trends characteristic of the collective memory landscape in Central and Eastern Europe. Since the 1990s, with Communist-era censorship no longer in place, unconstrained discussions about the past have shifted from the private to the public sphere. Just like the controversy around the Museum of the Second World War, other debates about the past and its role in the present have become heated and politicized. As access to the Internet grew, the online sphere became yet another platform for voicing opinions about the past. History-themed social media groups and online museums flourished — yet the debates remained divisive, to the point that Ellen Rutten and Vera Zvereva termed them 'web wars'.3 Researchers discussed to what extent the collective memory landscape of Central and Eastern Europe — shaped by the legacy of Communism, the hardships and opportunities of economic transformation and the rise of digital technologies — was unique on a European and global scale. Three monographs published between 2019 and 2021 form the point of departure for this article. Each of the books proposes or pioneers a new avenue in research on museums and collective memory: large-scale studies of museum visitors that utilize a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods; research of experientiality in museum exhibitions; and a psychological approach to collective memory. These three works rely heavily (though not exclusively) on case studies from the Western world. This article argues, however, that the methodological frameworks proposed by their authors have more universal applications. The second section of the article, therefore, asks how these three approaches may benefit research on Central and Eastern Europe and, conversely, how research on the region [End Page 729] can contribute to — and sometimes challenge — the frameworks used in global museum and memory studies. These questions are discussed with regard to three elements of the research process: subject (i.e. what or who is researched), methods (i.e. how it is researched), and the researcher (i.e. who conducts the study and why). This article does not aspire to be an exhaustive literature review on museum and memory studies in Central and Eastern Europe. Rather, it discusses how these recent works by Smith, Jaeger and Maruszewski may create new links between research on Central and Eastern Europe and the Western world. Three new works on museum and memory studies In her 2021 book, Emotional Heritage: Visitor Engagement at Museums and Heritage Sites, the Australian museologist Laurajane Smith asks how visitors approach heritage sites. To find an answer, Smith interviews 4,502 museum visitors to forty-five museums in three countries: England, the United States and Australia. She then uses...

Silent memorylands: City branding and the coloniality of cultural memory in the Hamburg HafenCity

This article illustrates the predicaments of self-acclaimed global cities that come under pressure to decolonise heritage practices. Examining the politics of public memory in post-imperial Hamburg through the inner-city redevelopment project Hamburg HafenCity, it shows how commemorative landscapes are co-produced by market rationalities. Through document analysis and interviews with city planners, artists and campaigners, the article explores urban toponymies and heritage sites as relational and contested configurations of post-colonial memory and culture. It finds that the HafenCity’s colonial heritage premediates the area’s contemporary symbolic programme which celebrates European expansion, cosmopolitanism and Hamburg’s maritime tradition. The article engages with the multiple modes of encounter and performative responses that (neo-)colonial memory landscapes elicit. It redraws the affective geographies of (un-)belonging in a post-imperial city and charts decolonial propositions of civil society actors.

Not the End of the Story

Abstract Central to this article are two maps by Floris Balthasarsz van Berckenrode, both on the siege of Grave (1602) by Maurice of Orange during the Dutch Revolt. The first map was in 1602 produced as a news map about the events, the second was a re-edition, published eight years later as a book illustration for Jan Jansz Orlers, Den Nassauschen Lauren-Crans (Leiden 1610). In this article, principles for a new method are introduced to analyse and compare these ‘story maps’ with particular attention to the narrative impact of the map. Using this method in combi-nation with (book) historical research, it argues that the 1610 map should be considered as a ‘memorial map’ that reframes the collective memory of the Dutch Revolt. It emphasizes the dynamic relationship between news, map and book publishing and pleads for a more prominent position of story maps and book illustrations in Early Modern memory landscapes.

Diaspora and Identity Construction: Memory Writing in Voyage in the Dark

Memory is the reflection of real-life situation and can present a sense of self and identity, which has always been an unavoidable element in the writings of diasporic writers. Taking the memory writing in Jane Rhys’ Voyage in the Dark as the entry point, this paper attempts to interpret the memory writings that appear in Voyage in the Dark by combining with cultural memory, landscape memory, and identity theory. By writing about the heroine Anna Morgan’s memories about the West Indies, Rhys analyzes how Anna tries to pursue her self-identity and the awakeness of herself. By walking through the two scenes and cultures and living in the gap between the two cultures, Anna tries to establish her identity and pursue a sense of belongings, looking for a spiritual homeland. Rhys uses modernist writing skills such as stream of consciousness and multiple spatial juxtaposition to make a memory writing in her novel, expressing the subversion of white Creole women to colonial discourse and the identification and construction of self-identity.

Nobody Likes Ike: The National Civic Art Society and Commemorative Containment in Washington, D.C

ABSTRACT This essay explores the history of the Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. as a lens on the shifting nature of U.S. public memory. The National Civic Art Society (NCAS) opposed the memorial plans in a vitriolic report. I argue that the NCAS seeks to regain control of D.C.’s memorial landscape via commemorative containment. Their rhetoric on the memorial emphasizes scarcity, suggesting only certain commemoration is appropriate. In narrating Eisenhower’s biography, attacking the process, and defining citizenship as obedience, the NCAS report commemoratively contains the memorial. Doing so centers whiteness and limits the multiplicity of stories told on the National Mall.

Memorial landscapes, recognition, and marginalisation: a critical assessment of Adelaide's ‘cultural heart’

Memorial landscapes are powerfully instructive. Cast in bronze or carved in stone, memorials speak to us of who and what we should admire and those characteristics we should aspire to emulate. As such, memorial landscapes are texts. However, memorial landscapes are equally about remembering and forgetting. Drawing upon a critical examination of the memorial landscape of Adelaide’s cultural precinct this paper examines ongoing silences regarding Indigenous pre-history, the processes and impacts of British colonisation, and how these are remembered and/or silenced within this place. Framed by post-colonial literature, this paper reveals that notwithstanding movements towards reconciliation in Australia, Adelaide’s cultural precinct firmly remains a settler landscape. Those few memorials raised to or acknowledging Indigenous people are pushed to the margins, poorly maintained, or framed through service to the Empire.

Human rights memorials in turmoil: Antagonistic memories in contemporary Chile

This article analyzes the political geography of conflicts around memory of the Chilean dictatorship (1973–1990). These have intensified since the social mobilizations that began on October 18, 2019, due mainly to attacks on monuments to the dictatorship's victims. Based on a descriptive analysis of their vandalization and an in-depth study of two particular cases, we assert that, although transitional policies permitted the installation of condemnation of human rights violations as the majority position in society, conflicts about the dictatorship's legacy persist, even 30 years after it ended. They are expressed antagonistically (Mouffe, 2013; Bull & Hansen, 2016) by sectors that do not participate in the debate about the past and, instead, undertake actions that position the victims as subjects who must be eliminated, attacking the most iconic representations of public recognition of the victims: memorials in their honor. This article argues that it is still possible to consider the development of agonistic memories within the Chilean memory landscape. It is a path of recognition of the suffering of the other that, at the same time, allows discussion and conflict between political sectors, formed around different interpretations of the past, to become part of the everyday life.

The Landscape of Historical Memory: The Politics of Museums and Memorial Culture in Post-Martial Law Taiwan, Kirk A. Denton (2021)

Review of: The Landscape of Historical Memory: The Politics of Museums and Memorial Culture in Post-Martial Law Taiwan, Kirk A. Denton (2021) Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 284 pp., ISBN 978-9-88852-8-578, h/bk, HKD 620.00

Shared Histories in Multiethnic Societies: Literature as a Critical Corrective of Cultural Memory Studies

AbstractThe staging of history in literature is engaged in dynamic exchange with society’s memory discourses and in this context, literature is generally seen as playing a creative role as a formative medium in memory cultures. For some time, however, many feel that established concepts of Cultural Memory Studies need to be reconsidered for multiethnic societies. The assumption is that official memory cultures tend to exclude people with a migrant background from identity-forming discourses about the past. Using Germany as an example, this paper argues, first, that the question of memory in multiethnic societies needs to be reconsidered indeed, but in a different direction than has been assumed so far, and, second, that much-discussed concepts such as the post-migrant paradigm or multidirectional memory tend to circumvent the problems at hand rather than contribute to their solution. The paper therefore discusses the preconditions for a literary-theoretical engagement with this socio-political issue and the direction in which an alternative conceptualization would have to go – that is, not a new theory or method, but anovel perspectivethat should bethe basis for future theory building.Rather than confining the notion of a »shared history« to, either the common history of a country’s native population, or to the historysincemigration shared by minorities and receiving society, this paper proposes to focus on actual links between the histories of Germany as the receiving society and the histories of the new Germans’ countries of origin. Using literary texts and discussing a concrete example, it brings such shared histories to the fore and explores how theyopen up national memory discourses transnationally. The underlying vision is that these important components of multiethnic societies have the potential to show a way in which national and transnational memory landscapes as a whole could be transformed. In this sense, the metaphor of »Migration into Other Pasts« may be rephrased as migrationnot»into the past of others« but aterritorial move within one common shared history. The paper therefore shows that the prerequisites for a literary-theoretical examination of the question of memory culture in multiethnic societies and its literary representations must be sought in the offerings of literature itself. The literary example, Orkun Ertener’s novelLebt(Alive/Live! 2014), with its numerous entangled and interweaving shared histories shows particularly clearly how literature can function as a drive or even theory generator for concepts to be developed – instead of, conversely, imposing readymade concepts on both German multiethnic societies and its literary production.The novel perspective of this paper can be summarized in the inversion of the conventional point of departure: Instead of looking for a way to include people with a migrant background into the German memory culture, the first question to be asked should be how, in the age of the general recognition of concepts of entangled history, the idea could arise and persist for so long that migrants with Turkish roots, for instance, have no relation to German history. By focusing on the historical connectivities between Germans and new Germans, Orkun Ertener’s novelLebtchooses a different approach in this regard. It provides a transnational expansion of memory discourses on German, Greek, Jewish and Turkish/Ottoman history and thus opens up a new and long overdue memory space that is of central interest to multiethnic societies in Germany and beyond. As it seems, it takes writers who are more interested in entangled histories than in history as a resource for identity to get this right. Ertener undoubtedly belongs to this type of writers, as evidenced not least by the fact that he cites or refers to some of the most important historical studies for his context from Mark Mazower’sSalonica – City of Ghosts, a standard reference on the multiethnic and multicultural history of Thessaloniki, toTurkey, the Jews and the Holocaustby Corry Guttstadt who challenged the myth of a Jewish-friendly policy in Turkey. Ertener’s novelLebtis saturated with the interconnected histories of various ethnic groups and may therefore serve as ablueprintfor a vision of memory culture in a multiethnic society.In conclusion, the essay outlines that developing an alternative concept of memory and historical consciousness in multiethnic societies and their literary representations cannot be based on much-discussed concepts such as post-migration or multidirectional memory. Although a superficial glance suggests that they might be the obvious choice for the topic of this paper, a novel take on multiethnic memory landscapes must start from specific shared histories and their entanglements. The paper therefore proposes that a bottom-up development of theoretical-methodological work is necessary in the case of representations of memory in multiethnic societies. This approach must highlight how links between the histories of the receiving societies and the histories of the migrants’ countries of origin are, or could become, important components of an alternative memory culture in multiethnic landscapes – and that these links hold the potential for transforming national and transnational memory landscapes as a whole.

“I am a historian as well.” - The West German Reception of Die Wannseekonferenz (1984) and Portraying Holocaust Perpetrators in Public Television Drama

<em>Die Wannseekonferenz</em> (1984) portrays the Wannsee Conference of 20 January 1942, where Reinhard Heydrich chaired a meeting of Germany’s ministers to co-ordinate the “Final Solution.” Produced by the public television network Bayerische Rundfunk (BR), <em>Die Wannseekonferenz</em> is neither mere entertainment nor a dry, unsubtle didactic film. Instead, it portrays history in a compelling and disturbing manner. The West German press, however, panned the film, which gained critical acclaim abroad. This article discusses its negative reception within the context of the 1980s television and memory landscapes through a grounding in archival sources.

MEMORIAL STUDIES AND HISTORICAL MEMORY OF THE WARS AND MILITARY CONFLICTS OF THE XX CENTURY: HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE ISSUE

The aim of the article is the analysis and systematization of the scientific literature based on the memory studies in general and historical memory of wars, in particular. Among the tasks to be solved, was the task to compare the studies by both foreign and Ukrainian authors in the context of the ratio of attention to the First and Second World Wars and local conflicts, especially the Afghan war. The article also focuses on the research of the memory instrumentalization problems. &#x0D; Methodology. In the process of writing this article were used general scientific research methods: description, systematic analysis of the available literature, synthesis, systematization and generalization of the information. There are also elements of comparative analysis among the methods of research.&#x0D; Conclusions. The issue of the collective, social and historical memory became the subject of active research in the 20th of the XX century. The first memory studies development stage was focusing on the period of antiquity and the study of the memory mechanisms, such as mnemonics. At the initial stage of the memory studies development was of particular interest to representatives of philosophical, cultural, sociological studies and psychologists. This explains the active use in the research field of the historical memory and policy of the conceptual apparatus in the outlined areas. The professional historical environment began to show the interest to the field of memory only in the 60s of the XX century. Since that time, politicians were able to use the situation of generation change, which distanced the war events from the time reality. Historians, in their turn (as well as representatives of the other scientific fields) received material for research and reflection. World local wars and their place in the life of the societies are differently represented in the memory landscapes. The differences are related to the political sphere and the tasks were set by the politicians. From inducing or forcing the societies to oblivion or, conversely, to create the myths that exaggerated certain war events, their participants and the role of the state in the victory. Events interpretations of the Second World War are marked by the “war of memories”, in which both scientists and government institutions of different countries are actively involved. Despite the awareness of its content and nature, the Afghan war is associated with the memory and respect for its victims in Ukraine. It is represented and preserved in the symbolic events of war participants and memorial landscape complexes.&#x0D; The memory studies historiography and especially the study of the war memory and its mythologizing, is expanding every year due to the new research, which is gaining special importance in modern war.&#x0D; Regional memory landscapes research is at the initial stage in Ukraine now. There are some local studies that should be developed and compared in order to identify trends that are specific to certain regions of Ukraine. After all, due to the political development peculiarities, historical background, cultural traditions, each Ukrainian region has its own characteristics of the historical memory. We don’t have clearly agreed norms and constructional traditions and landscapes formation that naturally fit into the surrounding space. The positive side of this situation is that it allows us to start new traditions of landscaping that will preserve and illuminate the war memory as successfully as possible.

Memory Justice in Ordinary Urban Spaces: The Politics of Remembering and Forgetting in aPost‐ApartheidNeighbourhood

AbstractFrom 1950 onwards, under the apartheid regime’s Group Areas Act, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes across South Africa’s cities. While the removals from some areas, notably District Six in Cape Town, are well documented and memorialised, many others have largely been erased from public memory. In a context of burgeoning research into issues of spatial justice in Southern cities, this paper puts forward the argument that the concepts and practice of memory and memorialising in urban spaces deserve more attention. Specifically, we suggest that the relationships between space and memory, shaped by collective, public acts of remembering and forgetting, can expand our understanding of what constitutes spatial justice in our cities. Reflecting on a research project conducted in Lower Claremont, a racially mixed, middle‐class suburb in Cape Town that was declared White in 1969 and subsequently dubbed Harfield Village, we explore some of the ways in which remembering and forgetting take place on the urban scale, and their implications for imagining just cities. We ask, too, what possibilities exist for active remembering in this place and in similarly ordinary city spaces. Analysing oral histories from former residents and interviews with current occupants of the neighbourhood, we open up some of the complications in surfacing forgotten stories and creating landscapes of memory. In the final section of the paper we reflect on an art installation that formed part of the research project, and suggest some possibilities for active memory work in our urban spaces.

Tracing memories and meanings of festival landscapes during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 has deeply affected mass gatherings and travel and, in the process, has transformed festivals, festival landscapes, and people's sense of place in relation to such events. In this article we argue that it is important to better understand how people's memories of festival landscapes are affected by these larger shifts. We worked from the premise that information-rich cases could provide some initial insights in this respect. To that end, we interviewed seven individuals who are regular and longstanding in their engagement with festivals in one place, lutruwita/Tasmania, the island state of Australia. Key findings suggest that pandemic experiences mediate the range of meanings participants give to festival landscapes and their interpretations of such landscapes can be described as attachments and detachments, encounters, and reorientations. We conclude by proposing that participants' efforts to draw on memories, reflect on emotional geographies, and recast autobiographies help them adjust to crises, rethink their ways of moving to and from festival sites, and reframe their sense of place in relation to significant cultural events. Such insights have application beyond both the island state and the participants involved.

Book Review: The Landscape of Historical Memory: The Politics of Museums and Memorial Culture in Post-Martial Law Taiwan by Kirk A. Denton

Book Review: <i>The Landscape of Historical Memory: The Politics of Museums and Memorial Culture in Post-Martial Law Taiwan</i> by Kirk A. Denton

Anticipating a Covid-19 Memorial Landscape: Quarantine and Migration Heritage as a Template?

This paper examines the role and function of migration and quarantine heritage in the circulation of health-related stories of national purity and biological vigor (which continue to be enacted and normalized through emerging COVID-19 remembrance practices). After examining how material cultures of quarantine have defined the parameters of the "healthy" nation-state, we outline the role of heritage venues in seeding national stories and symbols of the contemporary pandemic era. What clues do existing heritage sites provide about the form and function of emerging COVID-19 memorial landscapes? What continuities and differences can we identify? What can previous interpretive regimes around disease, movement, identity, and foreignness reveal about the objects and landscapes that will persist as symbols of our current predicament? And what are the implications for the management of museum landscapes?

“Melaka” in Chinese Texts: Archivalisation and Macro Patterns Related to Records of Melaka in the Ming and Qing Periods (Fifteenth to Eighteenth Centuries)

Abstract The reversion of the Chinese state, under the early Ming emperors, from private maritime shipping and trade to state-sponsored diplomatic and economic missions into Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean littoral under the Admiral Zheng He, has led to the Chinese textual documentation contains substantial information on the Sultanate of Melaka in the fifteenth century. However, this body of information, and the historical narrative of the Sultanate, has been based primarily on the extant records of the imperial Ming voyages, and the official bureaucratic records, such as the Ming shilu and Mingshi. Other texts post-dating the fifteenth century, including such encyclopedias as the Dongxi yangkao, draw their information on Melaka from these texts. The digitization of the Siku quanshu (Compendium of the Four Treasuries) commissioned in the late eighteenth century, has opened up the opportunity to discover hitherto unknown historical information, and the develop new paradigms and methodologies for the research of the history of Melaka. Importantly, the various entries of information on Melaka, found in the compendium that date after the fall of the Melaka Sultanate in 1511, provide insight into the lenses and experiences through which archivalisation, and the process in which Chinese officialdom collected information on the port-city, occurred through the course of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. This paper utilizes digital database search processes to elucidate new aspects of the history of Melaka’s trade and economic interactions with East Asia, and how Southeast Asia ports continued to feature in the memory landscape of the Chinese officialdom, long after the ceased to exist in the form of their original polities.

Resistance in Postwar France: Five New and Noteworthy Histories

Historians of modern Europe have long seen the tragic events of the Second World War in France as a major caesura in the history of that nation. But eighty years later, do the legacies of the war still help us understand postwar France and its political divisions? The five superb books under review make a strong case that the fracturing experiences of defeat, Vichy and the Resistance shaped some of the most important subsequent developments in France in ways that previous historians have failed to recognise. The developments identified by these authors include the waxing and waning of Resistance myths as part of a contested deportation memory landscape, an anti-authoritarian résistant psychiatry born in 1940 that went on to revolutionise French theories of alienation in the face of both Stalinism and postwar capitalism, and rural resistance to the state-led transformation of the countryside as part of France's postwar economic modernisation. Collectively they point to a larger takeaway for historians of postwar Europe: oppositional movements in France may resemble similar movements elsewhere in a Western context marked by Cold War tensions and, more recently, globalisation; but these protests are also always following a script haunted in part by the trauma of France's war years – a past that has not passed, even eight decades later.