The collection Cultures of Memory in the Nineteenth Century: Consuming Commemoration, edited by Katherine Haldane Grenier and Amanda R. Mushal, enters the emergent field of memory studies within nineteenth-century culture through an examination of social memory or the intersection of public and private remembrance. The collection explores commemoration and consumption, which, according to Guy Beiner in his foreword to the collection, grew during the fin de siècle and reached its height in contemporary commemoration, as seen in the marketing surrounding such traumatic events as 9/11. As Beiner argues, social memory is vital and not static, making consumption of commemoration necessary to shape that memory. Practices of consumption also importantly point to the inequities in access to social remembrance as governmental structures attempt to establish a hegemonic collective memory, while communities vie for ownership through local traditions. Collective memory is also gendered, determined by public/private spheres.
Grenier and Mushal focus their introduction to Cultures of Memory in the Nineteenth Century on the horrific act of violence at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, in which nine congregants were gunned down. This act of violence speaks to the power of individual and community memory that changes throughout time, paradigmatic of the intersection of individual memory interacting with “social, cultural, and political environments” (3). The collection of essays looks at memory culture through nineteenth-century structures, such as the formation of the middle class, the emerging culture of sentiment, industrialization and consumerism, and nation and empire building. The essays view social memory through consumerism connected to community, nation, and empire, which both form and deconstruct those identities. In this way, the exploration of nineteenth-century social memory makes clear its impact on twentieth- and twenty-first century memory culture.
The nexus of commemoration and consumption established in this collection is a fruitful one. The focus on consumption clearly gestures to the necessarily constructed and social nature of memory. The breadth of the essays builds upon the vitality of this work through their transnational and interdisciplinary focus. In particular, there has been little critical work done with memory studies within nineteenth-century culture. Various essays take up other theoretical approaches such as postcolonialism and ecocriticism, although this theoretical basis could be bolstered. A connection between trauma studies and this emergent view of memory is made clear in the foreword; however, very little use of existing trauma theory is made. For instance, Lauren Berlant's work on the intersections between sentimental culture and capitalism in the United States would especially be helpful.
The collection begins by exploring commemoration emphasized by burgeoning middle-class bourgeois consumer culture. Susan E. Cook examines the unusual nineteenth-century postmortem and spirit photography, or photographs of the deceased or of ostensible spirits, which prompts us to rethink the understanding of death as part of a community by intertwining the subject of photography with those alive. Taking up another important nineteenth-century commodity, Jennifer M. Black argues in her essay that autograph albums produced a commercialization of memory in the United States. These albums, tied to middle-class displays of character, instructed readers how to feel toward important family members; in addition, album writing manuals increased consumer demand and reinforced values of sentimental culture. Finally, Jacquelyn Sholes's essay traces the development of music for birthdays in Johannes Brahms's circle, which also promoted sentimental views of childhood and family affection and middle-class culture such as music literacy.
Looking at consumption within the global maritime economy, Kelly P. Bushnell explicates the way in which whaling tales such as Moby-Dick “read” the body of the whales through their injuries and harpoons, which are then also imbricated in memorials to whalers. Through a sophisticated use of ecocriticism and gift economies, Maura Coughlin examines votive boats or material commemoration in French fishing communities, through both the economy of global capital and the gift economy of memory and commemoration.
The essays in the second half of the collection trace the way in which memory is shaped to construct local, national, and imperial political narratives. Angela M. Riotto examines the development of Libby Prison War Museum to delineate the way in which museums shaped public memory of the American Civil War to act as a reminder of the trauma of war but also to construct an image of the prison to sell tickets through “dark tourism,” which commercializes sites of disaster. In contrast, Ashley Towle's essay explores varied reactions to the memorial tribute to Benjamin F. Randolph, a Black state senator assassinated by white opponents, to reveal the changeability of social memory as the hopefulness seen during Reconstruction gives way to a political hopelessness decades later.
Jacob Ivey examines the attempt by the colonial government in South Africa to maintain colonial authority by erecting a tribute to white soldiers killed by Langalibalele, an Indigenous chief who refused to surrender arms to the colonial government. Showing the shift in social memory post-apartheid, the monument becomes a testament to resistance to colonial authority. Similarly, Danielle Nielsen shows the ways that ceremonies and guidebooks in early twentieth-century India created a specific narrative emphasizing loyalty and peace in the British colony against the historical backdrop of the 1857 Indian Uprising. In his essay, Asaf Almog deconstructs the meaning of the Federalist Party to show that it was not just a beleaguered party but was employed after the War of 1812, much like guidebooks were after the 1857 Indian uprising, to emphasize American nationalism through the patriotism of other parties.
Similar to Nielsen's depiction of guidebooks, Johann J. K. Reusch also establishes guidebooks for German domestic tourism as mediating the knowledge of the destination sites. Through these guided tours, memory reinvents history by allowing middle-class Germans to position themselves as those holding higher status, while also allowing the insertion of private, family memories to these historical sites. Finally, Mira Rai Waits delineates the colonial within contemporary India, looking at artists who exploit and decolonize history. Waits deftly uses Edward Said's sense of memory, which he argues is exploited by government, to show how gestures to the past reflect on colonialization and postcolonial identities.
In examining memory studies within nineteenth-century culture, this collection provides a foundation for the understanding of commemoration in the modern world. The interdisciplinarity of this study broadens this understanding through connections to consumption, nationhood, race, and gender.
