In the wake of recent protests against police violence and racism, calls to dismantle problematic memorials have reverberated around the globe. This is not a new phenomenon, however, nor is it limited to the Western world. De-Commemoration focuses on the concept of de-commemoration as it relates to remembrance. Drawing on research from experts on memory dynamics across various disciplines, this extensive collection seeks to make sense of the current state of de-commemoration as it transforms contemporary societies around the world.
Arvustused
This impressive collection of essays addresses a very timely issue from a badly-needed comparative perspective. Set to become a benchmark, it covers a huge range of examples from across the world while creating common ground between them. The result is a wealth of insights into the role of public monuments in working through the toxic legacies of colonialism and dictatorship. Highly recommended. Ann Rigney, Utrecht University
De-Commemoration is an inspirational collection of diverse approaches, practices, methods, and perspectives of de-commemoration of forgoing heroes and activities, set in various cultural and geographical contexts. This is an exceedingly rare and truly global contribution. Mariusz Czepczyski, University of Gdask
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Making Sense of De-Commemoration
Sarah Gensburger and Jenny Wüstenberg
Part I: De-Commemoration after Regime Change
Chapter
1. Baptizing and Unbaptizing in Algeria: From French Colonization to
National Independence
Amar Mohand-Amer
Chapter
2. Street Renaming in Postsocialist Romania: A Quantitative Analysis
of Toponymic Change
Mihai Stelian Rusu
Chapter
3. The First Bolshevik Leaves Riga: The De-Commemoration of
Vladimir I. Lenin in Riga, Latvia (19871991)
Dmitrijs Andrejevs
Chapter
4. In Memory of the Fallen But for How Long? The De-Commemoration
of German War Memorials in Poland after 1945
Karolina Cwiek-Rogalska
Chapter
5. Naming to Erase, Renaming to Restore: (Re)Indigenizing the
Landscape
Kerri J. Malloy
Chapter
6. Removing Rhodes from His Pedestal: De-Commemoration in
Postcolonial South Africa
Gary Baines
Chapter
7. Contrasting Fates of Lenin Statues in Ukraine and Russia
Dominique Colas
Chapter
8. Beyond the Monument: Unmaking the Valley of the Fallen in
Contemporary Spain
Francisco Ferrándiz
Part II: De-Commemoration and Societal Transformation
Chapter
9. Renaming and the Relationship between Colonized and Colonizer:
The Role of Commemoration within Dual Place Names in New Zealand
Taylor Annabell
Chapter
10. De-Canonization of the Soviet Past: Abject, Kitsch, and Memory
Yuliya Yurchuk
Chapter
11. Diversifying Public Commemorations in Cape Town and Copenhagen
Vibe Nielsen
Chapter
12. De-Commemoration as Healing and Conflict: Canada and Its
Colonial Past and Present
Kate Korycki
Chapter
13. Killing Pedro de Valdivia Again: De-Commemoration of the Past
and De-Neoliberalization of the Present during the 20192020 Chilean Revolt
Manuela Badilla and Carolina Aguilera
Chapter
14. De-Commemorating Sound: Controversies about the Reestablishment
of the National Anthem in South Korea and Beyond
Bae Myo-Jung
Chapter
15. Do Commemorations Have an Expiration Date? A Case Study from
Belgium
Nicolas Moll
Part III: De-Commemoration to Propel Change
Chapter
16. De-Commemorating Australian Settler Colonialism
Sarah Maddison
Chapter
17. The Present Is All That Matters: De-Commemoration Practices in
Israel
Tracy Adams and Yinon Guttel-Klein
Chapter
18. De-Commemorations and the Unsettled Past in Contemporary Brazil
Ricardo Santhiago
Chapter
19. Decolonizing Colonial Monuments: Counter-Memory Activism in
Madrid and Barcelona
Fabiola Arellano Cruz
Chapter
20. Transnational Memory Struggles: Guerrilla Remembrances in
Colombia and Venezuela in the 2000s
Jimena Perry
Chapter
21. Next Stop Anton-Wilhelm-Amo Strasse: Place Names,
De-Commemoration, and Memory Activism in Berlin
Duane Jethro and Samuel Merrill
Chapter
22. From Decapitation to Destruction: Making Sense of Toppling
Statues in Contemporary Martinique
Audrey Célestine, Valérie-Ann Edmond-Mariette, and Zaka Toto
Chapter
23. De-Commemoration in Great Britain
Stephen Small
Chapter
24. The Role of Nonprofits in De-Commemoration: The Southern Poverty
Law Centers Whose Heritage? Report
Seth Levi and Kimberly Probulus
Part IV: De-Commemoration as Smoke Screen
Chapter
25. De-Commemoration without Decolonization? The Peculiar Case of
the Philippines
Lila Ramos Shahani
Chapter
26. Twice Removed: The Mystery of Manilas Missing Comfort Woman
Monument
Catherine Lianza Aquino and Jocelyn S. Martin
Chapter
27. Counter-Memory and State De-Commemoration: The Khavaran Mass
Grave in Iran
Chowra Makaremi
Chapter
28. The Toppling of the Equestrian Statue and the Future of
Colonial-Era Memorials in Namibia
Vilho Amukwaya Shigwedha
Chapter
29. An Unmarked Rebellion: The Politics of Forgetting Denmark Vesey
Vanessa Lynn Lovelace and Jamie Huff
Chapter
30. Exploring the Scope of De-Commemoration: Touring Trafalgar
Square in London and Beyond
Stuart Burch
Part V: De-Commemoration to Challenge Memory
Chapter
31. From De-Commemoration of Names to Reparative Namescapes:
Geographical Case Studies in the United States
Jordan P. Brasher and Derek Alderman
Chapter
32. De-Commemoration under the Law: The Removal of Statues in France
and the United States
Thomas Hochmann
Chapter
33. Human Rights and Toppled Statues: Can the European Convention on
Human Rights Provide Solutions to De-Commemoration Disputes?
Tom Lewis
Chapter
34. Re-Commemoration: What Other Stories Can We Tell? Observing
Ordinary People Engaging with Monuments in Public Space
Alison Atkinson-Phillips
Chapter
35. Who Cares about Old Statues and Street Names? Resisting Change
and the Protracted Decommunization of Public Space in Poland
Ewa Ochman
Chapter
36. Keeping the Past from Freezing: Augmented Reality and Memories
in the Public Space
Mykola Makhortykh and Anna Menyhért
Chapter
37. De-Commemorating White Supremacy through the Act of Voting
Lorena Chambers
Index
Sarah Gensburger is Professor of sociology and political science at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and Sciences Po-Paris and President of the international Memory Studies Association since 2021. She is the author of Beyond Memory: Can We Really Learn from the Past? (with Sandrine Lefranc, Palgrave, 2020), and Memory on my Doorstep: Chronicles of the Bataclan Neighborhood, Paris, 2015-2016 (Leuven University Press, 2019) as well as co-editor of Administrations of Memory (with Sara Dybris McQuaid(Springer, 2022).
