Who should bring monuments down? Agency and the politics of memory in public space

MOIRA PÉREZ

Hannover

Conferencia; Who should bring monuments down? Agency and the politics of memory in public space; 2022

Forschungsinstitut für Philosophie Hannover

The global movement against monumentscommemorating controversial historical figures saw a sharp rise in 2020, whenstatues of slave traders, colonialists and white supremacists were torn down orvandalized throughout Europe and the Americas. Debates surrounding theseinitiatives focused mostly on whether or not such figures should be removed, onthe relevance of heritage preservation in these cases, and on the distinctionbetween “erasing” history and re-writing it from a counterhegemonicperspective. Meanwhile, discussions on who should bring monuments down, orparticipate in decisions regarding historical representation in public space,were less frequent, albeit equally important. If participation inrepresentations of the past is an important element of epistemic and politicalinclusion, and interventions in public art are understood as a form ofexercising democracy, then the issue of agency in the removal of statues iscentral to how historically marginalized collectives are included, or not, incitizenship and society. What can the different cases witnessed in 2020 teachus about agency and the implications of the various forms of managing thepolitics of memory? In this presentation, I will build on contemporaryreflections from political philosophy and epistemology of historiography toaddress the question of agency in this transnational movement that is literallyshaking our history.