Introduction: Remaking Monuments and Memories

This chapter presents an introduction focused on methods for analyzing and addressing monuments of oppression. I first discuss general aspects of interpretative frameworks in which one can analyze the characteristics and impacts of oppressive monuments. Activist responses to such memorials include facets of restorative justice. I next explore the workings of such monuments and responses to them in brief case studies drawn from locations in Germany, Italy, South Korea, Australia, Philippines, and South Africa. I chose these locations to complement the diversity of geographies addressed in greater detail in the other chapters of this book. These brief case studies provide insights as to key facets at play in efforts to grapple with oppressive monuments. I then provide an overview of the case studies presented in the following chapters and the ways in which common themes and stratagems are manifest in those diverse initiatives.