The Secret Life of Memorials: Through the Memory Lens of the Australian South Sea Islanders
By (author) Julie Mitchell
Paperback (Published)
(May 2019)
ISBN: 9781789690958
8.07 x 11.46 inches
Price: $58.00
In stock
Focussing on the Australian South Sea Islander minority community this volume employs a variety of theoretical arguments in order to contribute a new method for comprehending the many interleaving aspects of memory spaces, and should be of interest to heritage professionals, local councils and governing bodies, and members of the gen
The Australian South Sea Islander (ASSI) minority community has a contested indentured labour background and involvement in the Australian sugar cane industry which has resulted in a consequent paucity of material culture and other records. This paucity, in a sense, forms a substantive part of The Secret Life of Memorials: Through the Memory Lens of the Australian South Sea Islanders as it is argued that memory places, rather than static artefactual stand-ins for the past, are dynamic material culture which have agency and relevance in the present, participating in the on-going post-colonial process. Although a material culture study focused on the materialised expression of memory, this research allows discussion beyond typologies, styles and categories to consider the relational meaning and distributed agency of these objects within the complex network of public memory. In addition to considerations of their symbolic, mnemonic or representational reflections of the past, contemporary memorials are discussed as extensions of the original ASSI event to which they refer, a part of a continuous process that is helping to shape current communities. This encompassing approach, from historical experience to present day memory enactment strategies, employs a variety of theoretical arguments, contributing a new method for comprehending and including the many interleaving aspects of memory spaces, of interest to heritage professionals, local councils and governing bodies, and members of the general public.
Julie Mitchell achieved her doctorate in the Department of Archaeology, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia. A fascination with the human condition and the connections between past and present that manifest in contemporary life guided her research focus on the role of material culture in the construction and maintenance of memory. Julie is also an IPinCH fellow (intellectual property in cultural heritage), focused on the otherwise intangible cultural heritage information that material culture contains. Julie is currently working on another relatively unrepresented group, children living on colonial Australian gold fields, linking modern perceptions of Australian culture and identity, and those created, adopted and passed on by these ‘golden’ children.
- By (author) Julie Mitchell
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