Public Memory in the Context of Transnational Migration and Displacement

This book explores the border-transcending dimensions of public remembering by focussing on the triangular relationship between memory, monuments and migration. Framed by an introduction and conclusion, nine case studies located in diverse social and geo-political settings feature topical debates and contestation around monuments, statues and memorials erected by migrants or in memory of migrants, refugees and diasporas in host country societies. Written from different disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, art history, cultural studies and political science, the chapters consider displaced people as new, originally unintended audiences who bring transnational and transcultural perspectives to old monuments in host cities. In addition, migrants and diasporic communities are explored as 'agents of memory', who produce collective memory in tense environments of intra- and inter-group negotiation or outright hostility at the national and transnational level. The research is conceptually anchored in memory studies, notably transnational memory, multidirectional memory and other concepts emerging from memory studies' recent 'transcultural turn'.

Autorentext

Sabine Marschall is Professor in Cultural and Heritage Tourism at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Her research has explored various aspects of cultural heritage and commemorative monuments. More recently, she has focused on the tourism-migration nexus and the role of memory in migration and travel.

Inhalt
1. Monuments in the Context of Migration: An Introduction.- 2. Forging Transnational Allegiance: Immigrant Patronage and the Syrian Centennial Monument of Buenos Aires in the Crafting of Arab-Argentine Identity.- 3. National Identities, Public Memories, and Italian Americans' Engagement with Christopher Columbus.- 4. Long-distance Nationalism: Ukrainian Monuments and Historical Memory in Multicultural Canada.- 5. Political and Social Contestation in the Memorialization of Comfort Women in the United States.- 6. Contested Memory in an Eponymous City: The Robert Towns Statue in Townsville, Australia.- 7. Tracing Paths of Transcultural Memory: The Usage of Monuments in Guided Tours by Refugees.- 8. From here because from abroad. Migrants and grassroots memorials in Paris (2015-2017).- 9. Walter Benjamin in Fortress Europe: refugees and the ethics of memory in an (ex)border town.- 10. Virtual and Augmented Reality: Memorializing Deaths of Migrants Along the US-Mexico Border.- 11. Synthesis and Conclusions.