Politics, Public Space, and Memorials
The Brawl on the Mall
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11668013 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lisa Benton-Short, Lisa Benton–short (0000-0002-8095-3578, George Washington University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2006 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 297-329 |
| Publication date | 2006-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Urban Geography (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.2747/0272-3638.27.4.297 |
| OpenAlex | W1997017780 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 23 |
| References cited | 34 |
This paper examines recent proposals for memorials and monuments on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Demands for memorials are increasingly at odds with the Mall's important role as open green space and public protest space. This article analyzes the broader issues embodied in the competing purposes of this highly visible public space by considering the recent controversy over the World War II Memorial. The controversy focused primarily on the location of the memorial. Opponents contended the World War II Memorial would interrupt or destroy the iconography of the National Mall. Supporters argued that the location selected for the memorial was consistent with its importance in U.S. history and that it deserved such a prized location in the central axis between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. The article then analyzes the politics behind the site selection, and examines the debate about the impact of the memorial's location. It concludes that the location of the memorial was not accidental but intentional, and thereby reveals a purposeful re-writing of the Mall's symbolic space to suit a specific vision of the war and its meaning in American history. The article also contends that the location of the memorial represents an emerging social-political agenda that is prioritizing the Mall as a place of commemoration at the expense of open space, and, perhaps, at the expense of public protest space
Meaning (existential · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Public space · Shopping mall · Sociology · World War II · History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
The meanings of monuments and memorials
Political monuments in Lithuania
Beyond “Thanks for Your Service”
“Hero of Two Worlds”
The organization of commemorative space in postcolonial Cuba
Pour une approche sémiotique des monuments et des mémoriaux
Political Relationship among Monuments
Agency and governance
Decision-making processes for public memorials in Seoul
To History or to Hollywood? Monuments to Foreign Celebrities in Twenty-First Century Balkans
A Contested Collective; monumental public spaces and the politics of memory in Iran
Memorial landscapes
Political geography
Military landscapes
Synthesizing collective memory and counter-memory in urban space
The value of ambiguous architecture in cities. The concept of a valuation method of 20th century post-socialist train stations
What a Difference a Place Makes
Where the Aura of a Tyrant Remains”
The Removal of Confederate Monuments
Introduction to the Special Issue on Reframing Confederate Monuments
Omni-temporality and place making
The Uneven Landscape of California's Historical Landmarks
Bollards, Bunkers, and Barriers
The texture of memory
Remaking America
A Geography of Heritage
The city as text
Citizenship, Community, and Struggles for Public Space
The Ghosts of Berlin
Landscapes of Power
Marching on Washington, the Forging of an American Political Tradition
Commemorations
The structural transformation of the public sphere
Fallen Soldiers
Does the Aral sea merit heritage status
Constructing landscapes of power
The construction and destruction of a colonial landscape
Monuments, Memorials, and the Politics of Memory
Gender, Class, and Urban Space
Public Space and Public Memory in New York’s City Hall Park
Re-presenting the City
Cumberland Island National Seashore
Multiple Stable States and Models of Riparian Vegetation Succession on the Animas River, Colorado
Variations on a Theme Park
For Ever England
Place, Memory, Monument
Sculpting Heroic Histories
Cast in Stone
Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
Urban Community Gardens as Contested Space
Separate times, shared spaces
| Unique citing works | 23 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,21 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2026 (20) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 21 |