Memory, Place and Identity: Commemoration and remembrance of war and conflict(Routledge Research in Culture, Space and Identity)

This book bridges theoretical gaps that exist between the meta-concepts of memory, place and identity by positioning its lens on the emplaced practices of commemoration and the remembrance of war and conflict. This book examines how diverse publics relate to their wartime histories through engagements with everyday collective memories, in differing places. Specifically addressing questions of place-making, displacement and identity, contributions shed new light on the processes of commemoration of war in everyday urban façades and within generations of families and national communities. Contributions seek to clarify how we connect with memories and places of war and conflict. The spatial and narrative manifestations of attempts to contextualise wartime memories of loss, trauma, conflict, victory and suffering are refracted through the roles played by emotion and identity construction in the shaping of post-war remembrances. This book offers a multidisciplinary perspective, with insights from history, memory studies, social psychology, cultural and urban geography, to contextualise memories of war and their ‘use’ by national governments, perpetrators, victims and in family histories.

Table of Contents:
1. The Significance of Memory in the Present Part I: Placing Memory in Public 2. Encountering Memory in the Everyday City 3. Personal Reflections on Formal Second World War Memorials in Everyday Spaces in Singapore 4. Multiple and Contested Geographies of Memory: Remembering the 1989 Romanian ‘Revolution’ 5. Wrecks to Relics Sha’ar HaGai, Israel: Battle Remains and the Formation of a Battlescape Part II: Narrative Memorial Practices: Storytelling and Materiality 6. Who were the Enemies? The Spatial Practices of Belonging and Exclusion in Second World War Italy 7. Sound Memory: A Critical Concept for Researching Past Wartime Experiences. 8. Heralding Jericho: Narratives of Remembrance, Reclamation and Republican Identity in Belfast, Northern Ireland. 9. In the Shadow of Centenaries: Irish Artists go to War 1914-1918. Part III: Commemorative Rituals of Remembering in Place 10. Embodied Memory at the Australian War Memorial. 11. Affective Atmospheres 12. Beyond Sentimentality and Glorification: Using a History of Emotions to Deal with the Horror of War. 13. Witnessing and Affect: Altering, Imagining and Making New Spaces to Remember the Great War in Modern Britain. 14. Places of Memory and Mourning in Nazi Germany.

About the Author :
Danielle Drozdzewski is a Human Geographer and Senior Lecturer in the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Sarah De Nardi is Research Associate in Cultural Geography at the University of Durham, UK. Emma Waterton is Associate Professor in the Institute for Culture and Society at University of Western Sydney, Australia.

Review :
"The introduction to the book establishes its clear contribution to the field. If the success of a paper is measured by the number of underlines and starred notes written in the margins by a reader, this introduction may become the next starting point for future studies in this area of research among geographers... This volume contributes mightily to the literature on memorialization in general, and particularly that toward war. It builds a new layer of intricacy, impact, and thoughtfulness, while maintaining readability and focus. The book is a necessary addition to the library of any scholar looking to understand the memorialized landscape and its impact on visitors and future movements of peace." Chris W. Post (2016): Memory, place and identity: commemoration and remembrance of war and conflict, Social & Cultural Geography, DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2016.1260186 "[T]his volume contributes mightily to the literature on memorialization in general, and particularly that toward war. It builds a new layer of intricacy, impact, and thoughtfulness, while maintaining readability and focus. The book is a necessary addition to the library of any scholar looking to understand the memorialized landscape and its impact on visitors and future movements of peace." Chris W. Post Department of Geography, Kent State University at Stark, North Canton, OH, USA, Social & Cultural Geography "In Memory, Place, and Identity, Drozdzewski, Di Nardi, and Waterton (2016) bring together 14 essays under three themes: “Placing Memory in Public,” “Nar-rative Memorial Practices: Storytelling and Materiality in Placing Memory,” and “Commemorative Vigilance and Rituals of Remembering in Place.” I found the latter the most coherent and satisfactory with the first three papers dealing with Anzac phenomena being especially strong." K. Neil Jenkings, Newcastle University, Symbolic Interaction K. Neil Jenkings Newcastle University, Symbolic Interaction