Confederate Statuary: The Difficulty of Preserving Contested Historical Monuments

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Published

2019-06-27

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/1989

Authors

  • Clinton Jacob Buhler Dixie State University

Abstract

Removing public monuments from their prominent locations is an act that is likely to cause considerable controversy under most circumstances.  This is particularly true when the ideology those monuments were erected to promote is hotly contested within society.  Throughout the American South, cities and states are grappling with the issue of what to do with Confederate statuary, especially in the current political climate which has highlighted America’s lingering race issues and the violence attached to them.  Russia was faced with a similar issue two decades earlier when the Soviet Union was dismantled, but its monumental propaganda still stood on virtually every street corner and square.  This problem is analyzed in this essay by systematically analyzing these monuments according to their various historical and ideological values, as categorized by the prominent art historical Alois Riegl.  Strategies employed by Russian policymakers in the late twentieth century are analyzed as a potential solution for officials throughout the South as they grapple with the issue today.

La rimozione di monumenti pubblici dalle loro posizioni di rilievo è un atto che può causare considerevoli controversie nella maggior parte delle circostanze. Ciò è particolarmente vero quando l’ideologia che quei monumenti sono stati eretti per promuovere è fortemente contestata all’interno della società. In tutto il Sud Americano, le città e gli stati sono alle prese con il problema di cosa fare con la statuaria confederata, specialmente nell’attuale clima politico che ha messo in evidenza le persistenti questioni razziali in America e la violenza ad esse connessa. La Russia ha dovuto affrontare una questione analoga due decenni prima, quando l’Unione Sovietica fu smantellata, ma la sua monumentale propaganda si trovava ancora praticamente su ogni angolo e piazza. In questo saggio tale problema viene affrontato analizzando sistematicamente questi monumenti in base ai loro vari valori storici e ideologici, come classificato dal noto storico dell’arte Alois Riegl. Le strategie impiegate dai policymaker russi alla fine del XX secolo sono analizzate come una potenziale soluzione per i funzionari di tutto il Sud che stanno affrontando la questione oggi.

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Author Biography

Clinton Jacob Buhler, Dixie State University

Assistant Professor

Humanities Department

How to Cite

Buhler, C. J. (2019). Confederate Statuary: The Difficulty of Preserving Contested Historical Monuments. Il Capitale Culturale. Studies on the Value of Cultural Heritage, (19), 557–571. https://doi.org/10.13138/2039-2362/1989