Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials (Rhetoric, Culture, and Social Critique)

Though we live in a time when memory seems to be losing its hold on communities, memory remains central to personal, communal, and national identities. And although popular and public discourses from speeches to films invite a shared sense of the past, official sites of memory such as memorials, museums, and battlefields embody unique rhetorical principles. __Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials__ is a sustained and rigorous consideration of the intersections of memory, place, and rhetoric. From the mnemonic systems inscribed upon ancient architecture to the roadside accident memorials that line America’s highways, memory and place have always been deeply interconnected. This book investigates the intersections of memory and place through nine original essays written by leading memory studies scholars from the fields of rhetoric, media studies, organizational communication, history, performance studies, and English. The essays address, among other subjects, the rhetorical strategies of those vying for competing visions of a 9/11 memorial at New York City’s Ground Zero; rhetorics of resistance embedded in the plans for an expansion of the National Civil Rights Museum; representations of nuclear energy—both as power source and weapon—in Cold War and post–Cold War museums; and tours and tourism as acts of performance. By focusing on “official” places of memory, the collection causes readers to reflect on how nations and local communities remember history and on how some voices and views are legitimated and others are minimized or erased. A sustained and rigorous consideration of the intersections of memory, place, and rhetoric Though we live in a time when memory seems to be losing its hold on communities, memory remains central to personal, communal, and national identities. And although popular and public discourses from speeches to films invite a shared sense of the past, official sites of memory such as memorials, museums, and battlefields embody unique rhetorical principles. Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials is a sustained and rigorous consideration of the intersections of memory, place, and rhetoric. From the mnemonic systems inscribed upon ancient architecture to the roadside accident memorials that line America's highways, memory and place have always been deeply interconnected. This book investigates the intersections of memory and place through nine original essays written by leading memory studies scholars from the fields of rhetoric, media studies, organizational communication, history, performance studies, and English. The essays address, among other subjects, the rhetorical strategies of those vying for competing visions of a 9/11 memorial at New York City's Ground Zero; rhetorics of resistance embedded in the plans for an expansion of the National Civil Rights Museum; representations of nuclear energy—both as power source and weapon—in Cold War and post–Cold War museums; and tours and tourism as acts of performance. By focusing on “official” places of memory, the collection causes readers to reflect on how nations and local communities remember history and on how some voices and views are legitimated and others are minimized or erased. "Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials is a sustained and rigorous consideration of the intersections of memory, place, and rhetoric. From the mnemonic systems inscribed upon ancient architecture to the roadside accident memorials that line America's highways, memory and place have always been deeply interconnected. This book investigates the intersections of memory and place through nine original essays written by leading memory studies scholars from the fields of rhetoric, media studies, organizational communication, history, performance studies, and English. The essays address, among other subjects, conflicting memories of the Second World War in various public memorials; rhetorics of resistance embedded in the plans for an expansion of the National Civil Rights Museum; representations of nuclear energy--both as power source and weapon--in Cold War and post-Cold War museums; and tours and tourism as acts of performance. By focusing on "official" places of memory, the collection causes readers to reflect on how nations and local communities remember history and on how some voices and views are legitimated and others are minimized or erased."--Back cover Introduction : rhetoric/memory/place / Carole Blair, Greg Dickinson, and Brian L. Ott Rhetoric. Radioactive history : rhetoric, memory, and place in the post Cold War nuclear museum / Bryan C. Taylor Sparring with public memory : the rhetorical embodiment of race, power, and conflict in the Monument to Joe Louis / Victoria J. Gallagher and Margaret R. LaWare Rhetorical experience and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem / Gregory Clark Memory. Bad dreams about the good war : Bataan / John Bodnar You were on Indian land : Alcatraz Island as recalcitrant memory space / Cynthia Duquette Smith and Teresa Bergman Place. Tracing Mary Queen of Scots / Michael S. Bowman Memory's execution : (dis)placing the dissident body / Bernard J. Armada The master naturalist imagined : directed movement and simulations at the Draper Museum of Natural History / Eric Aoki, Greg Dickinson, and Brian L. Ott.