Objectionable Commemorations, Historical Value, and Repudiatory Honouring

ABSTRACT

Many have argued that certain statues or monuments are objectionable, and thus ought to be removed. Even if their arguments are compelling, a major obstacle is the apparent historical value of those commemorations. Preservation in some form seems to be the best way to respect the value of commemorations as connections to the past or opportunities to learn important historical lessons. Against this, I argue that we have exaggerated the historical value of objectionable commemorations. Sometimes commemorations connect to biased or distorted versions of history, if not mere myths. We can also learn historical lessons through what I call repudiatory honouring: the honouring of certain victims or resistors that can only make sense if the oppressor(s) or target(s) of resistance are deemed unjust, where no part of the original objectionable commemorations is preserved. This type of commemorative practice can even help to overcome some of the obstacles objectionable commemorations pose against properly connecting to the past.

KEYWORDS:

• monuments
• commemorations
• transitional justice
• vandalism
• social movements

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Nicholas Southwood, Alan Hájek, Philip Pettit, Lachlan Umbers, Hanti Lin, Chong-Ming Lim, Shen-yi Liao, Daniel Abrahams, Alfred Archer, Daniel Halliday, the Editor and an Associate Editor of the AJP, and the two anonymous referees for extremely insightful and useful feedback. I write this paper with the hope that my country, Taiwan, will take the right steps to confront its authoritarian past.

Additional information

Funding

This research is supported by the Society for Applied Philosophy Short Term Postdoctoral Research Grant Scheme, conducted at the Australian National University.