Skip to main content
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences The Program in Jewish Culture & Society

Jenelle Davis

Jenelle Davis

Excerpt from Jenelle's proposal.

My research project examines the difference and tension between traditional memorials (by which I mean state and corporate-sponsored structures) and personal or community-based commemorations, which are often ephemeral, highly personal and follow an aesthetic impulse of their own, independent of traditional forms My argument is that global communication networks have made catastrophes – natural, social and political – visible to an extent never before witnessed. Furthermore, I argue that this visibility has resulted in the production of large-scale, permanent, corporate and state-funded structures geared towards an observant international audience, at the expense of smaller, independently funded structures intended for locally-affected communities. However, this is not to say that temporary, fluid and personal or community-based commemorative actions have disappeared. In fact, community-based memorials continue to thrive, in many ways functioning as a corrective to their bombastic official counterparts. And while my dissertation examines both traditional and personal commemorative practices, my emphasis is on how locally-attuned practices attend to the needs of private mourners and affected communities. Furthermore, I will reflect on how a global alertness to tragic events has compelled diverse members of the international artistic community to join in the commemorative impulse and to contextualize tragedy in their own work.  

 

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences The Program in Jewish Culture & Society

Room 109 English Building, MC-718

608 South Wright Street

Urbana, IL 61801

(217) 333-7978

Email: jewishculture@illinois.edu

Login