Temporal Regenerative Commemoration at Kent State
Topics:
Keywords: commemoration, regenerative memorialization, Kent State, symbolic accretion
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract
Authors:
Chris Post, Kent State
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
Abstract
On May 4, 1970, the Ohio National Guard [ONG] killed four and wounded nine Kent State University students on campus while, as part of a large group of students, they peacefully protested the US invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Over the last five-plus decades Kent State’s commemoration of this tragedy has slowly evolved to now include several memorials, the most recent being the 2022 dedication of markers for each wounded student placed where the ONG shot them. This latest process did not go without impediment—primarily new information on the distances between the ONG and killed and wounded students. Regenerative commemoration has been established to conceptualize the affective relationship between visitor and memorial site, through mobility and exchange, as witnessed at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice near Montgomery, Alabama (Sheehan, Brasher, and Speights-Binet 2021). This presentation modifies the idea of regeneration to focus on a temporal exchange, arguing that the relationships between archive, site, and visitors may also be “mobile” and affective. As our knowledge of past tragedy evolves, so may our memorial sites and their affective potential.
Sheehan, R., J. Brasher, J. Speights-Binet. 2021. Mobilities and Regenerative Memorialization: Examining the Equal Justice Initiative and Strategies for the Future of the American South. Southeastern Geographer. 61 (4): 322-342.
Temporal Regenerative Commemoration at Kent State
Category
Paper Abstract
