A research journey on democratic monuments during the US election campaign
In October and November, art historian Tanja Schult will visit several cities in the United States as part of her research on contemporary monuments. Follow her journey in her newly launched blog.
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Photo: Tanja Schult / Stockholm University
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Photo: Tanja Schult / Stockholm University
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. Photo: Tanja Schult / Stockholm University
Tanja Schult is assiociate professor and senior lecturer of Art history at Stockholm University. Her research focuses on Holocaust memory, on how monuments renegotiate questions of identity and participation, and how art’s efficacy can be captured through audience reception. She is now working on a project that investigates how monuments are used to express and implement key democratic values such as participation, social justice and critical discourse, and how do people respond to these manifestations in public space.
During her trip to the United States, she will present her research at various universities such as CUNY and Berkeley and conduct research, the latter in particular at the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, which Schult has already written about. For example on the Liminalities website:
The lecture tour and fieldwork are being carried out as part of the research project The Democratic Potential of Monuments, which is funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
Tanja Schult. Photo: Johanna Säll / Stockholm University
–The blog has three purposes: to communicate that monuments are widely used – even in today's democracies – to renegotiate the perception of history but also actively to strengthen democracy. I hope that my blog will inspire young people to study art history. Then, of course, it's an exciting political time with the presidential election taking place. I hope to convey some of the mood that prevails in the United States right now, says Tanja Schult.
The trip started on 3 October. Right now, Tanja is in Philadelphia to give a lecture at Monument Lab. The journey continues along the East Coast, from New York to Boston, and then goes to Washington DC and Pittsburgh. After a long stop in Montgomery, she will lecture in Dallas. The trip will end at Berkeley in San Francisco on 22 November.
