Shadowed Ground Violence, Tragedy, Memory and Placenames in the American Landscape

1. Shadowed GroundViolence, Tragedy, Memory and Placenamesin the American Landscape Kenneth E. Foote k.foote@colorado.edu

2. Roadside Memorial, Austin, TX Bunker Hill, MA Branch Davidian Compound, Waco, TX Cherry, IL, Mine Disaster Antietam Battlefield, MD Wounded Knee, SD

3. Rectification Sanctification Obliteration Designation

4. Sanctification A "sacred" place, set apart from its surroundings and dedicated to the memory of an event, person or group, usually involving the construction of a durable marker and serving as the focus for continuing commermorative rituals Moral and Ethical Lessons Heroes and Martyrs A Sense ofCommunity Loss Tends to occur rarely, but the prominence of sites of such sites tends to give the impression that sanctification is common

5. Designation A step on the path toward santification, a means of rallying support, a focus for protest Rectification Lorraine Motel, Memphis By far the most common response to violence and tragedy Manzanar, CA

6. Obliteration Active effacement of evidence of particularly shocking or shameful events John Wayne Gacy Home, Suburban Chicago St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, Chicago Beverly Hills Supper Club, Southgate, Ky

7. Change through time The creation or “invention” of commemorative traditions and narratives taking decades or generations to unfold The gradual creation of a cosmographical representation of the national past on landscape in names and places

8. Inscribing traditions at the state and local levels San Jacinto Battlefield Cemetery, TX

9. The interplay between places and placenames in memory and commemoration Cocoanut Grove Fire, Boston28 November 1942492 people die. Boston Globe Copyright

10. New Scholarship in Cultural and Historical Geography

11. New Scholarship in Cultural and Historical Geography

12. David Lowenthal, in “Past Time, Present Place” observed that "features recalled with pride are apt to be safeguarded against erosion and vandalism; those that reflect shame may be ignored or expunged from the landscape." 1-3 July 1863

13. Sand Creek Massacre SiteKiowa County, Colorado November 29, 1864

14. As John Bodnar notes in his book Remaking America: "The shaping of a past worthy of public commemoration in the present is contested and involves a struggle for supremacy between advocates of various political ideas and sentiments."

15. MLK, Jr. NHS

17. The Silence of Maps “The notion of ‘silences’ on maps is central to any argument about the influence of their hidden political messages. It is asserted here that maps—just as much as examples of literature or the spoken word—exert a social influence through their omissions as much as by the features they depict and emphasise.” J.B. Harley. 1988. Maps, knowledge and power. In Cosgrove, D. and Daniels, S., eds, The iconography of landscape. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 290

18. Mark Monmonier, How to Lie with Maps (1986)

19. Topozone.com (2006)

20. maps.google.com (2006)

21. Earth.google.com (2006)