Analysis: Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration, and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century
John Bodnar focuses on the creation of public commemoration and memory in America through the nation’s construction and into the twentieth century.
Bodnar’s prologue on the Vietnam Memorial illustrates several of the major themes that carry throughout the book: the plurality of public memory and commemoration. It is meant to symbolize loyalty and patriotism, national and social unity, order and civic duty. But more importantly public memory is a result of attempts to settle what he terms “official” and “vernacular” intentions.
Remaking America highlighted several areas of commemorative conflict throughout the twentieth century, and across the country. He compared Cleveland and Indianapolis in one chapter, discussed the roles of ethnic communities in rural and urban cities when establishing public memory, addressed commemoration in the Midwestern states, as well as commemoration on a national scale as represented in his discussion of the National Park Service and the national bicentennial celebration. Bodnar discussed local, regional, state, and national stories of commemoration and public memory.
Bodnar examined commemorative efforts throughout the country, and through a variety of events, actions, and celebrations: parades, holidays, monuments, re-enactments, world fairs, centennials, and so on. He discussed how the control over the commemorative events shift over time, from vernacular to official, official to vernacular, as well as how public memory shifts over time. Although, it was clear that Bodnar believed that the official story, of leaders and supporters of the nation-state, often overshadowed, or maintained dominance over the vernacular.
Overall, Bodnar looked at public memory and remembrance in multivocal or pluralistic societies. He did an excellent job at portraying attempts to shape the memory of the past to solidify and strengthen a view or belief of the present. In other words, attempts to shape the past often have intentions and interests that lie in the present. He backed his assertions with several great examples, and he followed these examples over time. I think he utilized not only a good portion of history in order to support his statements, but he also covered a nice portion of the country as well.
The book ends pondering what will become of our public memory now that the Cold War is at an end, and conservatism has minimized state power. How will public memory change? It would be interesting to see what John Bodnar has to say about public memory now…more than 15 years after this book’s publication. It would be nice to see an afterword. There have been some pretty significant memorials over the past few years: September 11th memorial plans and the WWII memorial to name just a couple.
2 comments:
I wondered too how Bodnar would feel about commemoration in America after September 11th. Throughout the reading I could not help but relate the argument of patriotism influencing commemoration to an experience I had in high school. Toward the end of my sophomore year (beginning of junior year?), my high school obtained a piece of the World Trade Center. To commemorate the memorial, then Governor Jeb Bush spoke to the students and faculty. Throughout his speech, he spoke of patriotism, freedom, and the strength of Americans. When they unveiled the memorial, all I could think about was how lucky I and the others surrounding me were to be American. After reading Bodnar's book, I think back to what I felt at that moment. Why in my patriotic fervor did I not immediately think about the individuals who lost their lives in the World Trades Center? Why did the governor speak for a whole group of people rather than remembering those directly influenced by the tragedy? I think if Bodnar heard about this event, I think he would not be surprised. As his book displayed, commemoration in America has progressed toward a more broader national narrative influenced by those of power.
It really is interesting what America has decided to commemorate and what it symbolizes, often very different things to different people. I was impressed by his range of examples, they did a great job of running the gambit from big to small, well known and not. Some of his examples really made me think. The parades we go to and events we commemorate are often interesting and surprising. In my hometown we celebrate the Festival of Lights in honor of Thomas Edison who maintained a summer residence in Ft Myers. However, (not that I’ve ever studied him) I have never heard mention of Edison and Ft Myers in the same sentence outside of the city. It is merely a marketing event for a tourist driven town, the use of a national symbol on a vernacular level to promote the interests of business owners. I thought it was just a chance to watch pretty floats! After reading Bodnar’s book I have begun looking at what is celebrated and why a lot more closely.
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