Memorializing 9/11 : Absence and Materiality in 9/11 Temporary and Permanent Memorials

Details

Supervisors

Bragard, Véronique

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en langues et lettres modernes, orientation germaniques

Abstract

enIn the last decades, terrorist attacks have been more pervading in many countries. Because of the fear of new attacks and of the loss of a great number of citizens, it has increasingly become more common to erect both temporary and permanent memorials. The present master dissertation analyzes how those commemoration types manage to convey absence and remembrance. Although they are traumatizing, events such as 9/11 make the history of a country. Therefore, even though the primary aim is to offer a place for citizens to gather and to mourn, creating those lieux de mémoire, as defined by Pierre Nora, enables to pass on memory to future generations. Behind those new rituals and the “Memorial Mania” that ensue from traumatic events, lie many symbols that are expressed through the various elements that are to be found in the materiality of the temporary memorials, and in the design of the permanent ones. Thus, objects such as flowers and teddy bears are augmented at those places, while voids and water, for instance, add a particular symbolism to the places that honor the dead. Building on the idea that this materiality is a means for citizens to express how they feel without uttering words, and on the fact that commemoration places are needed for societies, various elements will be analyzed to grasp the meanings behind temporary and permanent memorials.