Transatlantic Monuments: On Memories and Ethics of Settler Histories

This article explores the meanings and significances of memories of settler histories in transatlantic relations. Looking specifically at the medium of monuments, it asks what functions they have played, and continue to play, in relations between the United States and certain European countries. The first section of the article offers an anatomy of transatlantic monuments, outlining its key characteristics through a discussion of some prominent examples that range from Christopher Columbus to Leif Eriksson and the Plymouth Colony. In the second section, this typology is further explored through an in-depth analysis of the 1938 monument of the New Sweden colony (1638–1655) designed by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles. The third section deals with memory and ethics, focusing on the analytical consequences and contemporary ramifications of applying a transatlantic perspective on monuments of settler histories. The article argues that a framing of memories of European settlement in America as transatlantic encourages us to rethink its meanings and functions, but also to reappraise questions of responsibility. As monuments of settlement appear to be politically relevant in Euro-American relations, we need to address consequential questions of inclusion, authority, accountability, and agency, that are central to an ethics of memory in transnational settings.