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The Production of a Memorial Place: Materialising Expressions of Grief

Petersson, Anna LU (2010) p.141-159
Abstract
This chapter will look at why, how and in what way a spontaneous memorial may develop: from an immediate act to a more planned place of grief and remembrance (Clark and Franzmann 2006, Nieminen Kristofersson 2006, Klaasens, Groote and Huigen 2009). Of special importance for this investigation are the noticeable differences in attitudes to and growths of roadside memorials revealed by data gleaned from interviews that I conducted with informants in 2005 on the subject of recent Swedish roadside memorialisation. As well as the various viewpoints on the production of memorials on public ground found in two applications requesting to erect memorials on sites of individual deaths in the city of Malmö, Sweden, sent to and responded by the... (More)
This chapter will look at why, how and in what way a spontaneous memorial may develop: from an immediate act to a more planned place of grief and remembrance (Clark and Franzmann 2006, Nieminen Kristofersson 2006, Klaasens, Groote and Huigen 2009). Of special importance for this investigation are the noticeable differences in attitudes to and growths of roadside memorials revealed by data gleaned from interviews that I conducted with informants in 2005 on the subject of recent Swedish roadside memorialisation. As well as the various viewpoints on the production of memorials on public ground found in two applications requesting to erect memorials on sites of individual deaths in the city of Malmö, Sweden, sent to and responded by the Streets and Parks Department in Malmö.

In order to illustrate these perspectives this text will start with presenting some examples from the 2005 interview survey. Thereafter a presentation of the two requests, and the statements issued to them, will be made. I will then move on to discuss the given examples in the light of the anthropologist Jean-Pierre Warnier’s idea of ‘the three media of symbolization’ (Warnier 2001), dealing with the internalisation of a difficult experience in the past, and the philosopher and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection (Kristeva 1982), working on the exclusion and rejection of that which is threatening. In this discussion, I will forefront the material world as an important media for expressing, communicating, experiencing and understanding loss and bereavement (Aynsley, Breward and Kwint 1999, Hallam and Hockey 2001, Valentine 2008: 114–23). (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
grief, Spontaneous memorials, materiality, public, private
host publication
Deathscapes: Spaces for Death, Dying, Mourning and Remembrance
editor
Madrell, Avril and Sidaway, James
pages
141 - 159
publisher
Ashgate
external identifiers
  • scopus:79551557157
ISBN
9780754679752
DOI
10.4324/9781315575988-16
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Theoretical and Applied Aesthetics (011036008)
id
7e7293ed-f4f9-437a-aa02-268a0ffdb0c8 (old id 1503841)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 10:39:53
date last changed
2022-06-27 07:48:34
@inbook{7e7293ed-f4f9-437a-aa02-268a0ffdb0c8,
  abstract     = {{This chapter will look at why, how and in what way a spontaneous memorial may develop: from an immediate act to a more planned place of grief and remembrance (Clark and Franzmann 2006, Nieminen Kristofersson 2006, Klaasens, Groote and Huigen 2009). Of special importance for this investigation are the noticeable differences in attitudes to and growths of roadside memorials revealed by data gleaned from interviews that I conducted with informants in 2005 on the subject of recent Swedish roadside memorialisation. As well as the various viewpoints on the production of memorials on public ground found in two applications requesting to erect memorials on sites of individual deaths in the city of Malmö, Sweden, sent to and responded by the Streets and Parks Department in Malmö. <br/><br>
In order to illustrate these perspectives this text will start with presenting some examples from the 2005 interview survey. Thereafter a presentation of the two requests, and the statements issued to them, will be made. I will then move on to discuss the given examples in the light of the anthropologist Jean-Pierre Warnier’s idea of ‘the three media of symbolization’ (Warnier 2001), dealing with the internalisation of a difficult experience in the past, and the philosopher and psychoanalyst Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection (Kristeva 1982), working on the exclusion and rejection of that which is threatening. In this discussion, I will forefront the material world as an important media for expressing, communicating, experiencing and understanding loss and bereavement (Aynsley, Breward and Kwint 1999, Hallam and Hockey 2001, Valentine 2008: 114–23).}},
  author       = {{Petersson, Anna}},
  booktitle    = {{Deathscapes: Spaces for Death, Dying, Mourning and Remembrance}},
  editor       = {{Madrell, Avril and Sidaway, James}},
  isbn         = {{9780754679752}},
  keywords     = {{grief; Spontaneous memorials; materiality; public; private}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  pages        = {{141--159}},
  publisher    = {{Ashgate}},
  title        = {{The Production of a Memorial Place: Materialising Expressions of Grief}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781315575988-16}},
  doi          = {{10.4324/9781315575988-16}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}