Today, as we made our field trips to the Voortrekker Monument and Freedom Park, I found myself being reminded of the MacCannell (2011) reading multiple times throughout the day. I actually wouldn’t have minded spending less time at the Voortrekker Monument, not necessarily because it was making me angry but because Freedom Park was so well done (i.e. architecture, aesthetics, playing on all senses, sharing a story often times not heard). Something Tim pointed out to me, and I would have to agree with, is that the museum of Freedom Park had a somewhat similar resemblance to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. which also remembers the lives lost and the horrific events that occurred in the past. As MacCannell (2011) recognized, “[t]here is only one place where painful memory is maintained, considered, and preserved: in the minds and hearts and the expressions of visitors” (p. 7). It is not only important that we visit memorials such as these, but recognize the significance of being aware of these histories and sharing personal connections so that the stories of people being commemorated can live on through its visitors.
-Kristine Sudbeck
No comments:
Post a Comment