Are We Really Erasing or Replacing the Past?: A Roundtable on Monuments and Memory

Black Lives Matter protests following the death of George Floyd have prompted global debates about Confederate memorials and monuments to colonization. A common criticism of removing monuments is the fear that protestors are “erasing history.” But why are those monuments there in the first place, and who gets to decide how and where to commemorate the past? Join CSB/SJU History professors Brittany Merritt Nash, Elisheva Perelman, and Shannon Smith for a discussion on monuments and interpreting the past in Japan, Great Britain, and the United States. We will examine how communities are dealing with existing monuments and explore exciting new avenues of memorialization for a more representative society.

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