Applying Critical Race and Memory Studies to University Place Naming Controversies: Toward a Responsible Landscape Policy

ABSTRACT

A number of U.S. universities are embroiled in debates over the longtime commemoration and valorization of white supremacy through the campus landscape. Recognizing place naming as a legitimate political arena, activists have called for—and in some instances succeeded—in removing from university buildings the names of historical figures shrouded in racial controversy. For the broader public and even sympathetic higher education officials, there is a lack of understanding about why these demands are important and even less recognition about the violence that racially insensitive place naming inflicts on the belonging of marginalized groups. Instead, the renaming of campus landscapes is understood as merely an act of political correctness and thus campus authorities have offered uneven and incomplete solutions in the name of progressive reform. Applying recent innovations in race and memory studies, specifically the ideas of wounded places and memory work, we situate ongoing university place naming controversies in a critical context. Specifically, we build on the recent work of law scholar Stephen Clowney and discuss the opportunities and challenges of developing a policy of landscape fairness that recognizes the power of place to transmit ideas about racial power across generations and the right of critics to challenge dominant historical narratives.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical place name studies
• landscape fairness
• memory work
• political correctness
• race and place

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Thomas Craig for the pictures of the panorama display in Murray Hall on the campus of Oklahoma State University and Omololu Babatunde for the pictures of Hurston Hall at the University of North Carolina. We also wish to thank Dr. John Frazier for the invitation to participate in this special issue.