Public commemorations and remembrance

Abstract

Public commemorative artefacts (including public monuments) typically mark out some historical subject – typically, a person or an event – as important for a community to remember. This chapter surveys the budding literature on the historical character of public commemorative artefacts. First, it details three typical aims of public commemorative artefacts as they pertain to public remembrance. They declare the importance of some historical subject, impart ethical or political lessons, and foster community identity that is grounded in shared remembrance of the past. Next, it outlines two common problems with public commemorative artefacts. They can present incomplete or distorted accounts of history, and lead people to abdicate responsibility for the past. The chapter proposes an account of democratic public historiography that addresses the problems with public commemorative artefacts.Submitted/Accepted versio