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Social Science Urban

Speaking for a Long Time

Public Space and Social Memory in Vancouver

by (author) Adrienne L. Burk

Publisher
UBC Press
Initial publish date
Jan 2011
Category
Urban, Cultural
  • 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.