ABSTRACT
As landmarks have been used to prove a particular historical narrative, or collective memory, and thus define group identity, so their intentional destruction has been used to challenge narratives, and to erase identities. By remaking lost landmarks, through historic reconstructions, this process can be continued, with re-written narratives and outright appropriation of the landmark. However, historic reconstructions can also be employed by groups to reclaim narrative and landmark. These issues are considered in detailed studies of two sites: New Echota, the Cherokee capital before the 'Trail of Tears', reconstructed in the 1950s by the state of Georgia; and the recently reconstructed Africville Baptist Church, destroyed in the 1960s, together with the entire African-Canadian community, in the guise of urban renewal. Reference is also made to the reconstruction of elements within Andersonville Prison Camp, a site illustrating the depravity of the American Civil War and a site that continues to provoke contested historical narratives.
