Commemorations
Subtitle: the politics of national identity
By: edited by John R. Gillis.
Contributors: Gillis, John R.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Princeton, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 290
Subjects: Nationalism -- History.; Ethnicity -- History.; Memory -- Social aspects -- History.; National characteristics -- History.
Description: Memory is as central to modern politics as politics is central to modern memory. We are so accustomed to living in a forest of monuments, to having the past represented to us through museums, historic sites, and public sculpture, that we easily lose sight of the recent origins and diverse meanings of these uniquely modern phenomena.

In this volume, leading historians, anthropologists, and ethnographers explore the relationship between collective memory and national identity in diverse cultures throughout history. Placing commemorations in their historical settings, the contributors disclose the contested nature of these monuments by showing how groups and individuals struggle to shape the past to their own ends
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.