Memorials

A memorial can be defined as a cultural artifact (such as a gravestone, a sculpture, a statue, a park) aimed at giving shape to a certain past. Usually, a memorial is devoted either to a group of people (soldiers, victims) or to an event (an earthquake, a terroristic attack, a war). A memorial is usually intended for commemorative purposes, and it functions as a symbolic marker that fixes forever (or at least over a long period of time) the shifting meanings attributed to an event. A memorial inscribes the event in public discourse, and in doing so, it contributes to the crystallization and legitimation of a certain version of the event that it commemorates. The different definitions of memorials are related to corresponding conceptions of ...