Cultural memory, white innocence, and United States territory: the 2022 Urban Geography Plenary Lecture

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I explore how hegemonic forms of cultural memory in the United States, specifically, National Historic Landmarks, represent white supremacy and colonization. National Historic Landmarks are a particular form of commemoration that, according to the National Park Service, “represent an outstanding aspect of American history and culture and embod[y] national significance.” We examined how such sites represent white supremacy and colonization, based on the nomination materials as well as fieldwork, especially in terms of territorial development. Through our analysis, we identified four primary forms of representation: erasure, valorization, multiculturalism, and acknowledgement. Erasure, valorization, and acknowledgement all constitute denial, albeit in distinct ways. Altogether, over 90% of all National Historic Landmarks denied white supremacy and colonization. I argue that such monumental denial is essential to reproducing white innocence; acknowledging the racial violence embedded in the territorial development of the United States would constitute a crisis for the white nation.

KEYWORDS:

• Cultural memory
• white supremacy
• colonization
• denial
• territory

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Indigenous, Race & Ethnic Studies, Geography, and the InfoGraphics Lab at the University of Oregon.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For updates and analysis of CRT bans, see UCLA’s Law School, “CRT Forward Tracking Project” https://crtforward.law.ucla.edu/ (accessed 10 July 2022). For a legal analysis of trends, see PEN America (2022); on challenging CRT bans, see the Association of American University Professors’ “Educational Gag Orders” https://www.aaup.org/issues/educational-gag-orders-legislative-interference-teaching-about-race?link_id=1&can_id=b35649a5f259820bfba2f7069f7abb7a&source=email-update-on-educational-gag-orders&email_referrer=email_1526878&email_subject=update-on-educational-gag-orders (accessed 12 January 2022).

2 I am grateful to Magie Ramirez for this citation.

3 See Wikimedia lists, “Monuments Removed During the George Floyd Protests” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monuments_and_memorials_removed_during_the_George_Floyd_protests and “Removals of Confederate Monuments and Memorials” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_Confederate_monuments_and_memorials.

4 At the time of this writing the NPS only lists the landmarks by state, but does not easily make available the nomination materials and addresses. This requires that you search by individual landmark.

5 The research team included: Sophia Ford, Tianna Bruno, Carla Macal-Montenegro, Cristina Faiver-Serna, Cheyenne Holliday, and Aakash Upraity.

6 In the 2010s the NPS began curating and encouraging sites pertaining to non-Black people of color, women, and LGBTQ history. NPS began focusing on African American history earlier (NPS, 2022b; for a full historic overview, see NPS, 2022c).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation "Sangre en la Tierra: Towards a Methodology for Engaging with Foundational Racial Violence"; the National Science Foundation [grant number 1853840] and the Office of Vice-Provost of Research, University of Oregon.