Placing Memory and Remembering Place in Canada by James Opp, Paperback | Indigo Chapters

Over the past two decades, many books and articles have explored the larger meaning of public acts of remembrance. Although these studies have brought the links between public memory, imperialism, and nation building into focus, they overlook local expressions of memory that lie at the heart of our everyday experiences and identities. Placing Memory and Remembering Place in Canada maps a fascinating terrain in memory studies by shifting the focus to local places that sit at the intersection of memory making and identity formation – the main street, the city square, the village museum, internment camps, industrial wastelands, and the rural landscape. Offering a unique perspective on the politics of place and memory across differing chronologies and geographies, the first part of the book, “Commemorations," traces how local expressions of memory such as celebrations, museums, statues, postcards, and plaques have contributed to a sense of place and belonging in twentieth-century Canada. The second part, “Inscriptions," in turn explores how ordinary Canadians have embedded their memories of place in oral stories, photographs, and the landscape itself. With its focus on the materiality of image, text, and artefact, these essays argue for an understanding of place as imagined, made, claimed, fought for, and defended – always in a state of becoming. | Placing Memory and Remembering Place in Canada by James Opp, Paperback | Indigo Chapters