Grassroots Memorials

The Politics of Memorializing Traumatic Death

Peter Jan Margry, Cristina Sánchez-Carretero

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2011
• eBook ISBN: 9780857451903
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 21st Century History
• Index: History

Grassroots memorials have become major areas of focus during times of trauma, danger, and social unrest. These improvised memorial assemblages continue to display new and more dynamic ways of representing collective and individual identities and in doing so reveal the steps that shape the national memories of those who struggle to come to terms with traumatic loss. This volume focuses on the hybrid quality of these temporary memorials as both monuments of mourning and as focal points for protest and expression of discontent. The broad range of case studies in this volume include anti-mafia shrines, Theo van Gogh's memorial, September 11th memorials, March 11th shrines in Madrid, and Carlo Giuliani memorials in Genoa.

Table of contents

• Grassroots Memorials
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Preface
• Introduction: Rethinking Memorialization
• Part I. Negotiating Societal Violence
• Chapter 1“Diffi cult Remembrance”
• Chapter 2. Ritual Mediations of Violent Death
• Chapter 3. Between Commemoration and Social Activism
• Chapter 4. Memorializing Shooters with Their Victims
• Part II. Contesting Objectionable Death
• Chapter 5. Marking Death
• Chapter 6. Ghost Bikes
• Chapter 7. Mourning the Polish Pope in Polish Cities
• Chapter 8. Remembering La Tragedia
• Part III. Sociability and Reflexive Antiterrorism
• Chapter 9. Street Shrines and the Writing of Disaster
• Chapter 10. The Madrid Train Bombings
• Chapter 11. Purification and Remembrance
• Part IV. Instrumentalizing Repositories of Memory
• Chapter 12. September 11
• Chapter 13. Piazza Carlo Giuliani—G8 Summit, Genoa 2001
• Chapter 14. Memorializing a Controversial Politician
• Notes on Contributors
• Index