Religion, Violence, Memory, and Place

Sites of violence often provoke conflicts over memorialization. These conflicts provide insight into the construction and use of memory as a means of achieving public recognition of past wrongs. In this groundbreaking collection, scholars of religious studies, sociology, history, and political science, as well as African, Caribbean, Jewish, and Native American studies, examine the religious memorialization of violent acts that are linked to particular sites. Supported by the essays gathered here, the editors argue that memory is essential to religion and, conversely, that religion is inherent in memory. Other books have considered memory and violence, or religion and place--this collection is the first to discuss the intersection of all four.

Contributors are David Chidester, James H. Foard, Roger Friedland, Richard D. Hecht, Juan A. Herrero Brasas, Janet Liebman Jacobs, Flora A. Keshgegian, J. Shawn Landres, Edward T. Linenthal, Timothy Longman, Tania Oldenhage, Michelene E. Pesantubbee, Terry Rey, William Robert, Théoneste Rutagengwa, Oren Baruch Stier, Jonathan Webber, and James E. Young.

"What I like about this book is its cross-disciplinary approach--scholars in religious studies,

sociology, history, anthropology, and political science as well as in African, Caribbean, Jewish, and Native American studies, examine the religious memorialization of violent acts linked to those sites... I liked this book very much." --Contemporary Sociology Indiana University Press Indiana University Press

Scholars from a variety of disciplines explore the intersections of violence, memory, and sacred space

Oren Baruch Stier is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Judaic Studies Program at Florida International University. He is author of Committed to Memory: Cultural Mediations of the Holocaust.

J. Shawn Landres is director of research at Synagogue 3000 and a visiting research fellow at UCLA's Center for Jewish Studies. He is co-editor of After The Passion Is Gone: American Religious Consequences and Personal Knowledge and Beyond: Reshaping the Ethnography of Religion.

Acknowledgments

Introduction J. Shawn Landres and Oren Baruch Stier

Part 1. The Place of Memory: Theoretical Perspectives

1. The Powers of Place Roger Friedland and Richard D. Hecht

2. Witnessing the Archive: In Mourning William Robert

3. Memory, Religion, and Conflict at Auschwitz: A Manifesto Jonathan Webber

Part 2. Practicing Memory: Ritual Perspectives

4. Wounded Knee: Site of Resistance and Recovery Michelene E. Pesantubbee

5. Walking the Way of the Cross: German Places, Church Traditions, and Holocaust Memories Tania Oldenhage

6. Finding a Place Past Night: Armenian Genocidal Memory in Diaspora Flora A. Keshgegian

Part 3. The Spatial Ethics and Politics of Memory

7. Vehicles of Memory: The Enola Gay and the Streetcars of Hiroshima James H. Foard

8. Religion, Memory, and Violence in Rwanda Timothy Longman and Théoneste Rutagengwa

9. In the Name of Mary: Sacred Space, Sacred Property, and Absolution of Past Sins Juan A. Herrero Brasas

10. Remembering Genocide: Gender Representation and the Objectification of Jewish Women at Majdanek Janet Liebman Jacobs

Part 4. Constructing Memory in the Contemporary World

11. Indigenous Traditions, Alien Abductions: Creolized and Globalized Memory in South Africa David Chidester

12. Vodou, Water, and Exile: Symbolizing Spirit and Pain in Port-au-Prince Terry Rey

13. The Stages of Memory at Ground Zero James E. Young

Postscript: A Grim Geography of Remembrance Edward T. Linenthal

Bibliography

List of Contributors

Index