Recasting Monumentality: Performances of Public Protest at Confederate Monuments

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Document

This thesis explores performances of public protest at Confederate monuments. The unveiling of a monument suggests its shared meaning with spectators. Civil War Confederates were memorialized for their sacrifice, as they fought to preserve a Southern way of life that included systems of slavery. White supremacists and alt-right groups recently have gathered across the country to protest what they see as the erosion of traditional Southern culture with monuments as the backdrop for their protests. However, this meaning is being challenged by acts of public protest. These monuments, cast initially as representing white sacrifice, are now seen to promote white supremacism and African American subordination. I examine the significant role that white women have occupied in the erection and celebration of these monuments, and the role Black women have played in their protest. I explore the performative rituals that represent a shift from African American subordination to African American mourning. Using the notion of “visuality,” I analyze the aesthetics of the Confederate monuments and the protests against them. By bridging a historical context with contemporary social discourse, it is my intention that this reassessment suggests an interdisciplinary exhibition that resonates with the motifs and themes researched in this thesis.

    Item Description
    Name(s)
    Thesis advisor: Schneider, Rebecca
    Date
    May 01, 2018
    Extent
    101 pages
    Language
    eng
    Genre
    Physical Form
    electronic
    Rights and Use
    In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted
    Digital Collection
    PID
    ir:2504