Poster Subject: Heritage Studies

Poster Title: How Power and Memory Change within the Berlin Holocaust Memorial

Bio: I am a first-year Masters student from Ottawa, Ontario. I am interested in how identity and public memory are created and negotiated within the memorial landscape, with a particular focus on power systems and marginalization. I completed my undergrad at Memorial and have been active within the department, on campus, and in the broader heritage community. Currently, I am the treasurer for the NLAS and the graduate representative for Memorial University with the Canadian Archaeology Association Student Committee.  

Abstract: Memorials are not stagnant, they are places of connection, community, contention, protest, and political action. The increased interconnectivity and globalization of people worldwide have led to greater activist engagement surrounding monuments, heritage, and commemoration. Community history and monumentation have typically (save for a few 'global' monuments) been local entities rooted in a specific landscape and social network. However, global movements, fueled by social media and broader public engagement with politics, have brought attention to monuments and the systems of power enacted upon and through the memorial landscape. This scrutiny raises questions about what to do with physical representations of a contested past, originally created to tell a singular, static commemoration of a simplified history. By exploring the relationship of the Berlin Holocaust Memorial to a changing historical narrative resulting from the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict, a critical analysis emerges of how marginalization and power are enforced through memorial landscapes. This research also explores how public memory is created and evolves over time. To understand these processes, the study examines the construction of history in society and how power, social media, and perceptions of the 'other' influence historical narratives and the role of memorials within the political landscape. 

Corresponding Author's Email: hptough@mun.ca