IN-PERSON: Prague – Section B

Abstract

Recent years has seen significant increase in contestation over history and heritage and the memories they encapsulate. Monuments have been toppled, streets and buildings renamed, and curricula redesigned in the name of addressing systemic inequity, racism and marginalisation globally. This paper draws upon research work in Canada and Australia. Through this research we seek to chart an approach to mnemonic landscapes that appeals to human virtue in a way that promotes healing rather than conflict. In doing so, we explore the scholarly responses to contested mnemonic landscapes. In the first instance, and perhaps the most obvious, is the immediate removal of contested monuments. Quite correctly, advocates of this strategy suggest that the continued presence of troublesome monuments signals a continued commitment to the narrative for which they stand. As a counterpoint, critiques suggest that such removal sanitizes history. In a broad sense, these critics are correct as the removal of narratives from the intertextual web of public history is problematic. Thus, other scholars contend that troublesome memorials and the mnemonic landscapes they occupy might be recontextualized or altered in some way. This, these authors contend, may allow these mnemonic sites to stand witness to the social, physical, cultural ills they represent and reflect a more nuanced understanding of the past in the present. By exploring these opposing views and in charting a virtue-based approach to contested mnemonic landscapes we hope to build towards both justice and healing through mnemonic landscapes.