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This dissertation recounts the commemoration of Charles Darwin in Britain from his death in 1882 to his birth centenary in 1909. As a broadly chronological and episodic history, individual memorials are considered in themselves, in relation to others, and in their national and local contexts. In this way, they are shown to have been informed by contemporary scientific and wider cultural developments, previous memorialisations, and – consonant with a more recent historiographical turn to ‘place’ – local imperatives alongside those arising further afield. Consequently, memorialisers and observers are shown to have acted not merely as unreflective publicists or passive consumers, but as interpreters of Darwin’s memory who brought their own concerns to his commemoration. Darwin’s funeral, at Westminster Abbey, was widely accepted as a national endorsement of his social respectability, and, by extension, that of a burgeoning scientific profession which organised it. Further to this first posthumous elevation, and appropriation, of Darwin, subsequent presentations were informed by contemporary literary developments, and particularly the sudden decline in the posthumous reputation of Thomas Carlyle, which reflected changing attitudes to long-established ‘heroic’ tradition. As such, the production, reception and mobilisation of Darwinian biography (primarily his Life and Letters and its subsequent editions and sequels) recognised these recent literary concerns and further contributed to Darwin’s elevation as a personal and scientific exemplar. The ways in which Darwin’s reputation was elaborated and used are recovered at a range of sites of Darwinian significance, most notably Edinburgh, Cambridge, Shrewsbury, Oxford and London. Encompassing metropolitan, provincial, institutional and civic commemoration, accompanying periodical reportage, commentary and memorialisation is also considered. Common to the majority of these productions, Darwin’s theory of natural selection was criticised, contradicted or ignored. Nevertheless, the esteem in which the celebrated naturalist was held was to grow in inverse proportion to the reputation of his famous theory. Against this background, an extended memorial season peaked in the summer of 1909 at the Darwin Celebration at the University of Cambridge. That grandiose occasion echoed and developed themes which were well recorded in preceding commemorations, both ceremonially and in the periodical press. Consequently, man and work were brought into closer relation with a widely-expressed interest in the origins of his apparently exceptional abilities and character. The great naturalist was celebrated as a hereditary, as well as a moral and intellectual, exemplar. This development was supported by the new findings of Mendelian biology and Darwin’s memorial association with advancing eugenic activism. For the first time attending to his early ‘afterlife’ in Britain, this account traces the interaction of Darwin’s commemoration not only with the emerging biological sciences, but also with wider preoccupations concerning secularisation, democratisation and reform across the decades either side of the turn of the twentieth century. Ultimately, Darwin’s early memorialisation can be apprehended as a scientific activity in itself, contributing to professional, disciplinary and theoretical developments in the biological sciences.

This thesis examines the topic of memory in Guatemala in reference to the two Reports published in an effort to make the truth about the nation's decades-long war known.

This thesis examines the topic of memory in Guatemala in reference to the two Reports published in an effort to make the truth about the nation's decades-long war known.

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No description available.

This thesis examines the representation of the Polytechnique massacre in Canadian theatre. Utilizing a corpus of four Canadian plays, this study analyzes how trauma, feminism and commemoration intertwine in theatrical representations of this event. The findings demonstrate that the ways in which we represent the Polytechnique massacre are not neutral. They underscore our understandings and our beliefs relative to this event. In particular, this study demonstrates that in these plays, male characters talk more often and for longer than female characters. In addition, it analyzes how the recurrent topic of the “crisis of masculinity” is portrayed within this corpus. This study aims to participate in the constant reinterpretation of history, in order to question the narratives that have been passed down to us about the Polytechnique Massacre. / Graduate

This thesis explores chronologically the art, commemoration and memorialisation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camps at Auschwitz, from their establishment in 1940 to the present day. Following a review of the literature in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 examines the production of works of art by the inmates of the camp. That art should have been produced at all in Auschwitz may conflict with our expectations, given the conditions of life within the camp. Nevertheless, art was as necessary in Auschwitz as it is elsewhere. The present account of the making of art under such difficult circumstances attempts to make a significant addition to the established narratives of Auschwitz. The post-war development of Auschwitz as a site-specific museum, established to commemorate the victims of the camp almost as soon as the site was liberated in 1945, permits analysis of techniques utilized by the museum authorities to display artefacts in order to narrate the story of Auschwitz. This is the subject of Chapter 3. For a period, the site was used by successive Polish political administrations to construct and bind Polish national identity to Russian political demands. The act of memorialisation has been shaped by political requirements almost throughout Auschwitz’s post-war history. The determinant of recognition for memorial purposes was national identity. The use of overtly religious iconography, whether Christian or Jewish, was severely limited. Communist governments defined all victims as political, and specifically as victims of the struggle against Nazism. These political considerations affected the inconclusive 1957 memorial competition. This competition, and its political contexts, is described in Chapters 4 and 5. In 1968 the Polish government began an anti-Semitic campaign that provoked international condemnation. Chapter 6 surveys these events, and describes one significant outcome, the establishment at the site of what was known locally as the Jewish pavilion. Finally, in Chapter 7, I draw together the three overriding concepts of art, commemoration and memorialisation – the predominant themes of this discussion – in order to show how the conception of Auschwitz has moved beyond the physical boundaries of the historical site. The question of what the site itself means, or should mean, remains a matter of continuing debate. The narrative of memorialisation at Auschwitz becomes increasingly marked by single events such as the establishment of the Jewish Pavilion, each embodying the turn towards the recognition that what should be remembered lies beyond nationality, and is separate from the contingent politics of the post-war settlement. Behind this, however, lies a further and more important narrative: that at every point in its history Auschwitz was intrinsically and inescapably a Jewish experience. This subsumes the particularities of the slow realization that this is what the site should celebrate. This thesis is committed to embodying this overarching narrative, and aspects of it can be found throughout, in every chapter.

This study of commemoration of 9/11 on the 10th anniversary is performed at the intersection of public memory and rhetorical studies. Examining the role of the individual within public memory, this study furthers both fields by expanding on the definitions, processes, and negotiation between official and vernacular discourse. With a theoretical frame work that uses Foucault's concept of discursive archive, rhetors involved in the creation of public memory are framed as curators of a discursive archive of 9/11 memory. The role and limitations of the curatorial role is explored in three cases studies: a local ceremony, national newspapers, and Twitter hashtags. The study finds that there is a complicated interaction between vernacular and official memory and narrow definitions of the terms are not sufficient to describe the processes through which individuals take part in public memory. Rhetors involved in the public memory process may take on complex and ambiguous roles within the entangled discourses of official and vernacular memory. Within these case studies, individual curators crafted messages about the 10th anniversary of 9/11 that reify the importance of individuals tied to particular groups, urge for unity, and focus on the ten years since the tragedies.

This thesis examines the consequences and implications of the premature deaths of royal heirs in seventeenth-century Britain. In just four generations between 1603 and 1700 the Stuart dynasty suffered the loss of over twenty-five legitimate offspring before their twenty-first year. Several of these deaths had significant political repercussions, threatening both the continuity of the royal line and consequently the security of the nation. The cultural memory of these lost heirs continued decades and even centuries later. My work seeks to establish the historical significance of their long-lasting appeal by assessing their princely representation in life and analysing its development after death. This study is firmly located within visual culture. However, definitions and classifications of the “visual” are necessarily broad. The emphasis is upon the consideration of seventeenth-century British art as part of a wider cultural process. The opening chapter addresses an apparently obvious, though somewhat neglected, issue - the critical importance of royal heirs. Through examination of the imagery and ceremonial attached to Stuart childbearing and christenings, it asserts the real symbolic significance of princely progeny. Chapter Two develops the study of youthful princely representation. It assesses the portrayal of Stuart heirs as they matured and seeks to identify the principal characteristics. Specifically, it is argued that, from a young age, the projection of Protestantism and martial aptitude was crucial to the formation of their personae. Chapter Three analyses how deceased Stuart heirs were commemorated in the months and years immediately after their deaths. It is contended that the enduring memory of these princes was the result, not of official commemoration, but of the large-scale public response to their deaths. The loss of an heir not only threatened the future of the dynasty but also the stability of the realm. The fourth chapter explores how, through visual and cultural propaganda, the surviving Stuarts attempted to re-group and to assuage social and political anxieties. Chapters Five and Six assess the long-term legacy of these princes in the decades and centuries after their deaths, as well as the political circumstances which gave rise to their enduring memory. These concluding chapters reveal the extent to which memories of deceased Stuart princes lingered, asserting that their representations were often employed for negotiation of the issues and anxieties of later ages. Throughout, my work seeks to establish the importance of these lost heirs and protectors of the Stuart Protestant line. I have endeavoured to retrieve the reputations of princes who came to represent potent symbols of both promise and loss.