Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Monument Culture: International Perspectives on the Future of Monuments in a Changing World (American Association for State & Local History)

Monument Culture: International Perspectives on the Future of Monuments in a Changing World brings together a collection of essays from scholars and cultural critics working on the meanings of monuments and memorials in the second decade of the twenty-first century, a time of great social and political change. The book presents a broad view of the challenges facing individuals and society in making sense of public monuments with contested meanings. From the United States to Europe to Africa to Australia and New Zealand to South America and beyond, the contributors tackle the ways in which different places approach monuments in a landscape where institutions and ideas are under direct challenge from political and social unrest. It also discusses sharply changed attitudes about the representation of history and memory in the public sphere. The goal is to acknowledge shared experiences through a wider perspective; to contribute to the work of the world-wide heritage community; and to document the history and shifting cultural attitudes towards monument culture across the world, encouraging a more informed approach to monuments and their meanings especially for the public and those outside of academia. Review Countering this are signs of a growing sense of transnational solidarity directed at promoting human rights in the present and correcting commemorative injustices. But these same forces can be used to advance very different causes. The so-called "good Fascism", as Macaluso puts it, on offer in heritage-rich Italy resonates with Trump's equivocal response to Charlottesville. . . And that's precisely why we need books such as Monument Culture. Its many clever contributors help us prepare for that fateful day when the late, great Trump mutates from bile into bronze. For every person cheering his erection, someone else will be trying to tear it down. But, hey, that'll be OK. After all, there are sure to be "very fine people on both sides".--Museums Journal A public historian and scholar of art and culture, Macaluso presents global perspectives on the meaning and use of monuments and memorials and the broader categorization of monument culture and its shifting terrain internationally. The book's 20 essays address monuments in terms of landscape, people, and sense of place; trauma and violence/reconciliation and reparation; migration and identity; the practice of monuments (away from the built environment and toward installations, ephemera, and social media); and controversy and difficult histories. Many contributions, along with the opening and closing essays, overlap in addressing these five themes and thereby demonstrate how contemporary monument culture is concerned universally with constructions of identity, community, and history. Varied in methodology, literary style, and disciplinary approach, the essays bring together scholarship and artistic and social practice from seven continents and a number of academic fields. Offering brief, thoughtful, and enriching case studies that demonstrate the possibilities of an informed understanding of monuments yesterday, today, and tomorrow, Monument Culture will interest students and scholars of history, public history, public art, and engaged social practice as well as those in the cultural heritage sector. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals; general readers.--CHOICE Macaluso's Monument Culture features a wide-ranging, insightful group of essays that span the globe and illuminate one of the most critical issues of our time. From Antarctica to South Korea and beyond, this book is essential reading to understand how communities choose to remember and memorialize the contested past.--David B. Allison, editor of Controversial Monuments and Memorials: A Guide for Community Leaders The authors in Monument Culture do not promise solutions to the conundrums posed by monuments in today's world. Instead, you'll fi