ABSTRACT
Public monuments tell stories about societies by conveying their values, histories, and collective memories. Monuments materialize these stories through commemorating particular people or events, and simultaneously draw attention to and produce specific narratives about them. This chapter examines critical fissures in public memorialization in order to envision a politics of memory for societies that value and uphold equity and justice. Inclusive public spaces are paramount to such societies. Through examining monuments enacted and debated by diverse actors from public entities to activists and community groups in different countries, this chapter shows how communities and societies have represented and attempted to reconcile deeply irreconcilable perspectives about their histories, people, and events with little resolve. Choices regarding enacting or taking down monuments or deciding their content and form, reflects the values and power dynamics at the time they are debated. In diverse and inequitable societies, residents reach no consensus about historical meaning, and instead, different people advocate for representations that reflect their values and experiences. A critical challenge to the future of public space and memorialization is how to represent diverse experiences, including injustice, as shared experiences, which is a necessary step towards building inclusive societies.
