Commemorations : the politics of national identity / edited by John R. Gillis.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Gillis, John R., editor, writer of introduction.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National characteristics--History.

National characteristics.

Memory--Social aspects--History.

Memory.

Ethnicity--History.

Ethnicity.

Nationalism--History.

Nationalism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 290 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [1994]

Summary:

Memory is as central to modern politics as politics is central to modern memory. We are so accustomed to living in a forest of monuments, to having the past represented to us through museums, historic sites, and public sculpture, that we easily lose sight of the recent origins and diverse meanings of these uniquely modern phenomena. In this volume, leading historians, anthropologists, and ethnographers explore the relationship between collective memory and national identity in diverse cultures throughout history. Placing commemorations in their historical settings, the contributors disclose the contested nature of these monuments by showing how groups and individuals struggle to shape the past to their own ends. The volume is introduced by John Gillis's broad overview of the development of public memory in relation to the history of the nation-state. Other contributions address the usefulness of identity as a cross-cultural concept (Richard Handler), the connection between identity, heritage, and history (David Lowenthal), national memory in early modern England (David Cressy), commemoration in Cleveland (John Bodnar), the museum and the politics of social control in modern Iraq (Eric Davis), invented tradition and collective memory in Israel (Yael Zerubavel), black emancipation and the civil war monument (Kirk Savage), memory and naming in the Great War (Thomas Laqueur), American commemoration of World War I (Kurt Piehler), art, commerce, and the production of memory in France after World War I (Daniel Sherman), historic preservation in twentieth-century Germany (Rudy Koshar), the struggle over French identity in the early twentieth century (Herman Lebovics), and the commemoration of concentration camps in the new Germany (Claudia Koonz).

Contents:

Introduction. Memory and Identity: The History of a Relationship / John R. Gillis

part one. The Problem of Identity and Memory. Is "Identity" a Useful Cross-Cultural Concept? / Richard Handler ; Identity, Heritage, and History / David Lowenthal

part two. Memory in the Construction of National Identities. National Memory in Early Modern England / David Cressy ; Public Memory in an American City : Commemoration in Cleveland / John Bodnar ; The Museum and the Politics of Social Control in Modern Iraq / Eric Davis ; The Historic, the Legendary, and the Incredible : Invented Tradition and Collective Memory in Israel / Yael Zerubavel

part three. Memories of War and Wars over Memory. The Politics of Memory : Black Emancipation and the Civil War Monument / Kirk Savage ; Memory and Naming in the Great War / Thomas W. Laqueur ; The War Dead and the Gold Star : American Commemoration of the First World War / G. Kurt Piehler ; Art, Commerce, and the Production of Memory in France after World War / Daniel J. Sherman

part four. Politics of Memory and Identity. Building Pasts : Historic Preservation and Identity in Twentieth-century Germany / Rudy J. Koshar ; Creating the Authentic France : Struggles over French Identity in the First Half of the Twentieth Century / Herman Lebovics ; Between Memory and Oblivion: Concentration Camps in German Memory / Claudia Koonz.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's website, viewed May 23, 2019).

ISBN:

9780691186658

0691186650

OCLC:

1132222123