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In this thesis, I survey American public commemorations about war, the military, and Black American veterans from the nineteenth century to the present. With historiography about American war commemorations and with primary and secondary sources disclosing America’s racial hierarchy implemented legally and socially throughout this timeframe, this thesis unveils a chronology of discrimination and White supremacy which resulted in the marginalization of Black Americans in public art. Utilizing twentieth century archival records from the “National Home of Disabled and Volunteer Soldiers” as a basis of analysis, I navigate through the history of American war commemorations to unveil how the U.S.’ devotion to denoting race throughout and within its societal structures contributed to a dearth of acknowledgment of Black American servicemen in the public commemorative landscape.I argue that by evaluating the racial climate, devotion to White supremacy, and commemorative politics of American society from the nineteenth century to today, a future, more inclusive monument to Black American veterans may be formed. I also argue that by studying past implementations of public art regarding the military, war, and veterans alongside a timeline of civil rights movements including the contemporary movement “Black Lives Matter,” past monuments and commemorative structures with supremacist representations may be challenged in ways to diversify and improve the American commemorative landscape. I posit that a project to publicly depict Black servicepeople should involve Black narratives, Black leadership, and ample information about the subjects of the structure to combat past measures of erasure of Black American servicepeople in American public art. / History

This dissertation traces the rhetorical history of Virginia Tech's April 16th Memorial from its earliest appearance immediately following the April 16, 2007 shootings up to its present iteration as a permanent memorial on Virginia Tech's campus. Specifically, this study reveals how the April 16th Memorial is a public memory performance that has changed (and continues to change) in its form, function, and significance across time. Based on a data set that includes archival evidence, interview data, and fieldwork, I argue that over the course of its history, the April 16th Memorial has negotiated tensions and fusions between the epideictic and deliberative genres that exist within its bounds. In doing so, the memorial asks audiences to honor and remember the dead while also compelling audiences to deliberate over the social and political issues punctuated by the tragedy. Whereas the epideictic appeals in the memorial aim to reknit the community, the deliberative appeals invite audiences to imagine a better, safer world. By tracing the intersections between these two genres, this study demonstrates how complementary and competing forces in the memorial vie over not only constructions of public memory but also the lessons we are meant to gain from the April 16, 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech. / Doctor of Philosophy / Public memory refers to the shared recollections of history among members of a specific community. Rather than individual memory, public memory is constituted by what communities choose to remember and forget and what gets retold to future generations. Specific artifacts help support the creation of public memory, including archives, museums, monuments, and memorials. Scholars tend to agree that what communities chose to monumentalize in stone often reflects a desire to shape public memory in strategic ways. This dissertation traces the history of the April 16th Memorial at Virginia Tech in order to capture how the commemorative site has influenced (and continues to influence) public memory of the shootings that occurred at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. Using archival evidence, interview data, and fieldnotes collected at the site, I argue that the April 16th Memorial asks visitors to honor and remember the dead while also compelling visitors to deliberate over the kinds of action that might prevent school shootings in the future. This study demonstrates how complementary and competing forces in the memorial vie over not only constructions of public memory but also the lessons we are meant to gain from the April 16, 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech.

La Bretagne a perdu beaucoup d’hommes dans la Grande Guerre. Le patrimoine commémoratif qui a été créé pour les honorer est à la mesure de cette saignée humaine. Dans quelle mesure celui-ci reflète-t-il des traditions et une culture particulières ? Comme partout en France, des monuments glorificateurs ou patriotiques ont été élevés en l’honneur des combattants, mais la Bretagne a aussi tenu à souligner son identité propre. Une longue tradition religieuse se marque sur la plupart des édifices ; la forte spécificité culturelle qui caractérise la province a donné naissance à une statuaire d’inspiration régionaliste où figurent des personnages en costume local et des inscriptions en langue bretonne. La même affirmation identitaire se retrouve dans les églises. La volonté de commémorer le sacrifice est constante. Elle s’exprime dans deux hôtels de ville par des panneaux peints. Un monument national à la mémoire des marins morts pour la France a été édifié à la pointe de la Bretagne. Un mémorial régional, de nature religieuse, perpétue plus spécifiquement le souvenir des Bretons morts à la guerre. Hors du commun, ce patrimoine, auquel est venue s’ajouter par la suite une nécropole nationale, témoigne de l’histoire de la région et de la vitalité de sa culture. / Brittany lost many of its men in the Great War. The heritage of memorials and commemorations created to honour them is commensurate with the magnitude of this human slaughter. To what extent does such a heritage reflect traditions and a specific culture? As throughout France glorifying and patriotic memorials were erected to pay homage to the soldiers, but Brittany also wanted to emphasize its own identity. A long religious tradition is reflected in most of the monuments; the strength of the province's own specific culture gave rise to regionally inspired statuary with characters portrayed in local costume and inscriptions in the Breton language. The same assertion of identity is to be found in the churches. There is a constant desire to commemorate the sacrifice. In two town halls this is depicted in painted panels. A national memorial in remembrance of the sailors who died for France was erected at the western extremity of Brittany. A regional memorial, of a religious nature, is more specifically dedicated to the memory of those Bretons who died in the war. This uncommon heritage, to which was later added a national necropolis, bears witness to the region's history and to the vitality of its culture.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Kevin S. Blake / Monuments and memorials are how we record history on the landscape. History is created, preserved, and remembered by those who envision, design, and ultimately pay a visit to, these sites. The Oregon Trail is replete with interpretive sites relating to various events and people who lived along or traveled this route. From Independence, Missouri to Fort Laramie National Historic Site in Wyoming along the Great Plains section of the trail, Plains Indians are represented in thirty-two sites that convey various versions of history. The majority of these sites, twenty-seven, either ignore the Plains Indians or turn them into a stereotypical form of Sioux. These two representations give a sense that “No One is Home” or that “Siouxification” has occurred, a process by applying Sioux cultural traits to non-Sioux Plains Indians. The other five sites are categorized as “Getting It Right.” These sites either portray an accurate or close-to-accurate representation of the Indians and their role along the Oregon Trail. “No One is Home” is found all throughout the trail; “Siouxification” is clustered in the eastern study area; and “Getting It Right” primarily in the eastern portion.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Anne Beamish / Human nature compels us to remember the past. A society’s collective memory creates meaning in our lives, establishing individual and group identity and contextualizing cultural values. Commemorative landscapes give physical form to loss and memory, providing a space for public awareness and remembrance while acting as a sanctuary for dealing with loss. Over time, memorials face a loss of relevance as generations pass and society evolves to embody different shared memories and values. At the same time, our environment directly affects our physical and psychological well-being. Restorative environments benefit the individual by reducing stress. If the well-being of the individual and his or her environment are directly linked, landscape architecture can be utilized to restore mental well-being. A commemorative space combining the characteristics of memorials and restorative environments will act as a “restorative memorial”. Beyond remembering the events, people, or circumstances that establish cultural identity and values, restorative memorials would improve mental well-being, reminding the individual of their cultural identity while reducing psychological stress. Synthesizing literature understanding the importance of memorials, restorative environments, loss, stress, and environmental psychology with experiential observations of memorials and restorative environments generated a set of design guidelines for restorative memorials. These design guidelines were applied to a design commemorating the legacy of the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. The Menninger family formed the first group psychiatric practice in the country. They became world-renowned leaders in psychiatric and behavioral health treatments, believing a patient’s physical and social environment was instrumental to improve mental health. In 2003, the Menninger Clinic relocated to Houston, Texas, vacating a campus which played a great role in the history of Topeka, Kansas, and psychiatry. A restorative memorial commemorating the Menninger legacy could reconnect the citizens of Topeka with the history of the former campus and would pay homage to the ideals of the Menningers, using the designed environment to continue improving mental health. Restorative memorials can become landmarks in the urban fabric, providing an engaging built environment, imbued with meaning. They will transcend generational significance, serving the past, present, and future.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo a reunião de crônicas do historiador e crítico da literatura José Brito Broca (1903-1961), divulgadas entre 1921 e 1931, em periódicos de Guaratinguetá, no Rio de Janeiro e São Paulo. A documentação pertence à Coleção Brito Broca, no Centro de Documentação Cultural Alexandre Eulálio, no Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem da Unicamp. A dissertação ressalta três vertentes temáticas da produção inicial do jornalista: o memorialismo, a ficção e os aforismos. / This research is related to the gathering of chronicles by the historian and literature critic José Brito Broca (1903-1961) publicized between 1921 and 1931 in periodicals of Guaratinguetá, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. The documentation belongs to Brito Broca Collection, Cultural Documentation Center Alexandre Eulálio at Institute of Language Studies, Unicamp. The dissertation emphasizes three discussed thematics from the initial production of the jornalist: memorials, fiction and propositions (thoughts).

Conversations about Mortality is a series that uses installation, sculpture, painting, and audio to explore our relationship to mortality. The premise of the work relies on the quote, “The truth is rather than the images, though beautiful in themselves, come to life in the act of vanishing…” The research begins with a recorded conversation with four individuals who have all lost someone they love. The audio explores the memories each speaker has of the deceased. A portrait of the speaker is painted on watersoluble paper with a quote from the conversation laser etched into the back of the painting. The painting is then placed in a water vessel made of plexiglass, and then installed on found raw wood and steel for support. Viewers are encouraged to sit on a provided chair to listen to each speaker. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The attacks of 11 September 2001 have had a profound impact for many, altering lives, perceptions, politics and policies. The last decade saw the construction of numerous memorials commemorating the events across the United States. Most prominent is the National 9/11 Memorial in New York City at Ground Zero. Highly contested in its planning and building stages, the memorial site was designed to be a national symbol of mourning, remembrance and resiliency, and has since become one of the city's most popular tourist attractions. This thesis casts the matter of memorialising 9/11 as a performance of remembering. It utilises an analytical frame that draws from theoretical resources of collective memory and performance studies to examine how and by whom public remembrances of the event are framed, performed and maintained. Theories of social remembering render it an active process. A performance lens used analytically allows for a recognition of commemorative practices not as a mode of representation, but rather as a doing, (en)acting and interacting in the moment. By understanding public remembrance as performance, this thesis explores the implications of thinking about public memory in those terms. Through ethnographic methods the research unpacks the doing of public memory in three scenarios, each with their own setting and cast of characters, and interprets how, if and when individuals subscribe to the public and/or official memory of the events being memorialised. The first is set at the 9/11 memorial. Although the performances at the memorial site occur in an institutionalised, scripted and choreographed environment, the bodily (en)acting of and at the site can shift complex boundaries and commemorative narratives. The second provides the example of commemorative walking/ running events as performed remembering. These public processions are ritual-like (re)enactments that solidify and reaffirm the politicised national commemorative master narrative of 9/11. Lastly, the annual ritual of commemoration on the anniversary of 9/11 highlights and intensifies the separation of official and vernacular public memory and shows how in both settings organisers and actors utilise embodied performance strategies to gain or regain visibility in the public sphere.

This thesis explores the imagery of funerary ritual that expresses the commemoration of both the living and the dead in the art of the marble cinerary memorials of the early Empire. This group of objects includes decorated marble artefacts associated with cremation burial between the Augustan period and the reign of Antoninus Pius: ash chests (or cineraria); ash altars and grave altars (with or without ash cavities); as well as round urns and vase-shaped urns. The iconography chosen for cinerary memorials by individuals in the early Empire reflects those individuals’ concerns to remember families and friends and in turn to be remembered. This research approaches the analysis of funerary iconography holistically as embedded in its contemporary culture, as opposed to the focus on the art of various sub-cultures of Roman society, seen in recent scholarship. Items with adequate ancient provenance are used to create a sample dataset that represents individuals that belong to a middle to high income-group of society, individuals that are united through their ability to pay and commission these memorials, rather than by class. The epigraphic material, studied alongside the tomb analysis, indicates that this socio-economic group included people of different legal statuses: slaves, freed-people, non-elites and known-elites. Thus we are able to examine how artistic motifs, and also imperial iconography and culture, were received by a cross-section of society. The use of semiotics allows symbols to be analysed in conjunction with other methods such as examining narration and abstraction. This theoretical framework results in the extraction of meaning from seemingly generic motifs and connects this interpretation with contemporaneous cultural norms. Using these methods and the sample dataset, the memorial typology is examined as indicative of a focal point for funerary cult, through the connection between the object as a replacement altar for ritual, and as a house or shrine for the commemoration of the dead. The iconography associated with the memorials therefore relates to both the ritual context (garlands and other ritualistic motifs) and to the object as a small building (the architectonic façade and doors; garden and vegetative iconography). It also relates to the commemoration of the dead (portraiture and honorific iconography) and in particular to the idea of the spirit or manes of the deceased as being immortalised through the memorial (underworld and mythological iconography). All elements, then, point to the focus of the object in funerary ritual which enables the living to honour the spirit of the deceased and acts as a memento of family and friends, bringing together both the living and the dead in art and inscription.