Titles
T-Z
The Design Paradigm for the Historic Town of JanjevaThe Digital Transformation of Museums: Slavery Heritage and ...The Dual Effects of Ecomuseum in Heritage Tourism - A Case S...The Ethical Mirror: Poetry, Politics, and Architecture after...The Heritage of Playgrounds: How To Remember PlayThe Heritage of Tyneham Unravelled: Between Complex Historic...The Hybrid City: How the Blanka Tunnel Revealed the Multipli...The Impact of Graffiti Images on Image of The City and Visua...The Impact of the Iranian Revolution, War and the Subsequent...The impact of the Saudi Arabian urban policies and Urban Des...The Motion Magnification Applied to the Protection of the Cu...The musealization of bioarchaeological sites. Our next chall...The Physical and Social Construction of Early Public Toilets...The Renaissance Palazzi in the Marche: a Quest for New Funct...The Significance of Historical Centers' Image for Regional I...The Spon Street Scheme: its birth, execution and impactThe Welfare State’s Suburban Building Culture - Discussing...The Welsh Terrace: The Solution for Future HousingThere's a sadness in this community that will never go away:...UNESCO World Heritage Sites and Indigenous Land Rights: Why ...Unifying Object with Experience: Heritage in a Temporal Sett...Unravelling Inherited Resilience in Urban LandscapesUrban industrial building suppression: issues on the collect...Use of Online Platforms/Social Media in the Documentation an...Valletta: the fine line between urban vitality and liveabili...Visualizing Gilman: Counter Methods in Support of Place-Base...Ways of Describing Architectural Quality - A Comparative Stu...Welcome & IntroductionWisdom Of Place: Recovering the Sacred Origins of LandscapeWitness Tree Projectİş Bank Buildings in the History of 20th Century Turkish A...
Presenters
Schedule

IN-PERSON: Prague – Section B

Past and Present - Built and Social
Reworking Mnemonic Landscapes: Charting a pathway through the contestation over history and heritage
M. Rofe & M. Ripmeester
9:30 am - 11:00 am

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.

Biography

Dr Matthew Rofe is a Human Geographer specialising in the study of contested memorial landscapes in Settler Societies. His work is dedicated to the process of Truth Telling regrading the adverse impacts of colonisation upon and Reconcillation with First Nations People. Matthew is also the Leader Research Degree Coordinator with UniSA Creative.

Michael is the Professor and Interim Department Chair (July 2022 – June 2023), Geography and Tourism Studies at Brock University, Canada. Michael investigates contested landscapes in Canada, with a particular focus on contestation over history, heritage and authenticity. Michael has also published on place making practices within the Niagara wine region.