Dwelling with monuments

Abstract

In the past twenty years we have seen images of weeping mothers and soldiers at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC. We have seen images of statues of Lenin toppled from their platforms in the former Soviet Union, and the destruction of Buddhist mountain carvings in Afghanistan. These images involve monuments and memorials, but what role do the monuments play in these kinds of events? How do monuments participate in our public activities and our interactions with fellow human beings? We all encounter monuments. They grace public squares, or tower over cities, or mark a quiet corner where an important event transpired. We perhaps do not notice some of them and yet they can play a galvanizing role in our societies. How do monuments contribute to our dwelling on this earth? Is it possible to claim that some monuments contribute positively to human existence while others are oppressive or coercive? In this comment I will explore these questions by drawing upon Martin Heidegger’s understanding of “dwelling” and Hannah Arendt’s understanding of public action. My aim is to provide some suggestions for an analysis of what monuments achieve in our world and how we might evaluate the monuments we encounter. What is a monument? The word monument is derived from the Latin monumentum meaning memorial, coming from the root monere which means “to remind.” But is a monument merely that which reminds us of those who have died, or of an important historical event? And if it is called a memorial is there a difference between a memorial and a monument? A memorial need not be a monument. Memorial comes from the Latin memor meaning “mindful.” These deŽ nitions imply that a monument, which often serves as a memorial, is meant to call us both to be reminded and to be mindful. But reminded and mindful of what? There are possible answers to this question, but Ž rst some further clariŽ cations must be made. In addition to calling us to be reminded and mindful, monuments have a privileged position among the things we build with respect to the organization of common space. They often serve as a focal point around which space is organized. They invoke a shared past in a complex and complicated way. They contribute physically to the world, but can also make a less concrete contribution in making human beings mindful of themselves and their relationships to their communities. Not all monuments are equally successful at these tasks, however, and it is important to be able to distinguish the monuments that call us to be mindful of the complexities of our existence and the