From living memory to social history

When a tragic event occurs, care needs to be taken to ensure any memorialisation associated with that event is designed appropriately, which acknowledges that members of the public have lost close friends, family or colleagues in the tragedy and are grieving and coming to terms with the atrocity. As the years pass, and as the tragic event gradually moves from contemporary memory to social history, the site should be designed to be able to make this transition, and ensure it has the potential to retain its relevance for future generations. A contemporary dark event is one which has occurred in living memory, such as the Lockerbie air disaster in 1988 or the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001. The contemporary nature of these ‘hot events’ can make interpretation at these sites difficult, as the events cannot easily be placed in a larger historical continuity and context. ¹ This chapter explores the extent to which the on-site commemoration of the Lockerbie air disaster has the potential to move from contemporary commemoration to a site of significant social history, particularly now that nearly thirty years have passed since the incident and the twenty-fifth anniversary has been commemorated.