Speaking for a Long Time
Public Space and Social Memory in Vancouver
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780774816991
- Publish Date
- Jan 2011
- List Price
- $32.95
-
Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780774816984
- Publish Date
- May 2010
- List Price
- $37.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9780774859332
- Publish Date
- Jan 2011
- List Price
- $29.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
In the late 1990s, Vancouver's Downtown Eastside became the setting for three monuments – Crab Park Boulder, Marker of Change, and Standing with Courage, Strength and Pride. The monuments were grassroots initiatives that challenged the norms of civic art by claiming a place in public space for society's most vulnerable groups, and each figured in debates about many kinds of violence. Emphasizing the resilience and agency of artists, activists, and residents, this vivid account of the creation of memory-scapes offers unique insights into the links between power, public space, and social memory. It asks us to reconsider what constitutes public art that will “speak for a long time.”
About the author
Contributor Notes
Adrienne L. Burk is a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Simon Fraser University.
Librarian Reviews
Speaking for a Long Time: Public Space and Social Memory in Vancouver
Looking at the historical narrative and contemporary impact of three public monument/memorials in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, provides compelling insight into issues of power, influence and community. This study by a geographer also explores myriad positions by feminist thinkers as two of the three monuments directly address violence against women by men the author, using archives, media reports, correspondence and interviews, retells the story of how community activists conceived, informed, composed, promoted, negotiated, managed and persevered to complete the three projects.Source: The Association of Book Publishers of BC. BC Books for BC Schools. 2010-2011.