Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The past year has witnessed sustained debate about what insti-
tutions should be called, and beyond that, who should be
commemorated or marked in statues, plaques, and the like.
There is no shortage of examples. In the United Kingdom debate
has centred on figures central to the British Empire and slave
trade, including Cecil Rhodes, In the U.S. debate has been
focused on statues that commemorate the Civil War. In Canada,
the fault lines and shape of discussion are predictably different,
and the resolution of these questions far from over. The City of
Montreal is in the process of renaming streets once named for
British general Jeffrey Amherst. 2 In June of this year, the fed-
Statue of U.S. Chief Justice R. Taney 1777-1864 |
1
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, “Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Statue du Juge en chef américain R. Taney (1777-1864)
Violence Against Women of Colour,” Stanford Law Review, 43: 6 (July
1991) 1241-1299 1
Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, “Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and
2
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/jeffery-amherst-montre- Violence Against Women of Colour,” Stanford Law Review, 43: 6 (July
al-denis-coderre-1.4287673, accessed 13 October 2017. 1991) 1241-1299
American historians have pointed out the now-contested Ces décisions et les discussions qui les entourent impliquent invari-
monuments to Confederate heroes were mostly put up well ablement des questions d’histoire et le rôle qu’elle peut et doit remplir.
after that time had passed, during the height of Jim Crow laws À la suite de la violence des suprématistes blancs et des conflits per-
in the early 1900s and during the Civil Rights movement of pétuels autour des monuments de la guerre civile cet été, l’American
the 1960s. Those mass-produced (and therefore so easily top- Historical Association a annoncé qu’elle était favorable au « débat
pled) statues tell us about the anxieties of white Americans national naissant ». Les débats sur les personnages que nous devri-
in times of change rather than the Civil War they presum- ons commémorer exigent non seulement que nous nous penchions
ably mark.7 Macdonald was occasionally celebrated in some sur le passé qui est souligné par une statue ou une plaque, mais aussi
of what historian Cecilia Morgan calls the heyday of public sur les contextes dans lesquels elles ont été créées. Le Conseil d’ad-
ministration de l’AHA a expliqué que le retrait d’un monument ou
3
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/protest-ed- le changement de nom « ne doit pas effacer l’histoire, mais plutôt
ward-cornwallis-statue-halifax-council-1.4210543, accessed 13 modifier ou attirer l’attention sur une interprétation antérieure » et
October 2017. réexaminer qui et quoi « méritent une distinction civile ».4
4
AHA Council, “Statement on Confederate Monuments,” 28 August
2017, found at https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/ Les membres de la SHC ont participé, directement ou indirecte-
statements-and-resolutions-of-support-and-protest/aha-state- ment, à ces discussions sur qui et quoi devrait-on commémorer.
ment-on-confederate-monuments, accessed 11 October 2017.
5
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2017/07/09/john- 2
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/jeffery-amherst-montre-
a-macdonald-was-the-real-architect-of-residential-schools.html, al-denis-coderre-1.4287673, accessed 13 October 2017.
accessed 14 October 2017. 3
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/protest-edward-cornwal-
6
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/john-a-macdonald-etfo-schools- lis-statue-halifax-council-1.4210543, accessed 13 October 2017.
analysis-aaron-wherry-1.4260366, accessed 14 October 2017. 4
AHA Council, “Statement on Confederate Monuments,” 28 August
7
See http://www.npr.org/2017/08/20/544266880/confederate-stat- 2017, found at https://www.historians.org/news-and-advocacy/state-
ues-were-built-to-further-a-white-supremacist-future for a sum- ments-and-resolutions-of-support-and-protest/aha-statement-on-con-
mary, accessed 14 October 2017. federate-monuments, accessed 11 October 2017.