Monumental Ethnography

I thoroughly enjoyed our ethnography of the monuments with the assistance of members of the Board of Trustees. Our comparisons of the different memorials' subliminal messages made the advertising we see everyday seem honest.

The comparison of the Vietnam and World War II memorials was especially eye-opening. The grandeur and celebration present in the WWII memorial would at first strike one as odd for a war that led to the death of millions and millions of people. However, remembering back on the war, it actually represented a time of ultimate glory, moral authority, and unity. It was the real highlight of American history. By contrast, the Vietnam memorial showed the polar opposite for the time it represents. As one member of our group pointed out, it resembles a scar on our nation's capital when seen from above. Likewise, rather than representing unity, the Vietnam memorial recognizes each soul taken by the war individually, recognizing the complete absence of nationalism at the time.

All of the memorials, but especially these two, were products of their time and place: the US during a major war. But in talking about how these two factors can shape the identity of a memorial, I noticed on Tuesday how they can also shape the identity of a person. One of the Trustees, who shall remain nameless, asked me where I was from; I responded that I was from Kentucky; she likewise responded, "You're not in Kansas anymore, are you." Out of regard for Prof. Jackson's job security and in a testament to my own self-control, I did not respond to this comment in a way that I normally would have. However, I must argue that this woman is very likely a product of her time and location of development. In this case, probably a New England private school education, an east coast higher education, and a lifetime living in large-ish cities with movement limited to no more than three homogeneous New England states. These stereotypes (and that is what they are) base from my experiences that people from this situation (or from the main cities of the left coast) rarely acknowledge the presence of cities within the American mainland and appear to think that America is still an agrarian society since 90% of the US's inhabitable land must still be overrun with farm boys.

Ah what a digression: the beauty of blogging.

The extent to which this careless comment moved me to irritation and to expound equally careless statements the other way is a testament to the power of language (and irritation).