Objectionable Commemorations, Historical Value, and Repudiatory Honouring

Abstract

Many have argued that certain statues or monuments are objectionable, and thus ought to be removed. Even if their arguments are compelling, a major obstacle is the apparent historical value of those commemorations. Preservation in some form seems to be the best way to respect the value of commemorations as connections to the past or opportunities to learn important historical lessons. Against this, I argue that we have exaggerated the historical value of objectionable commemorations. Sometimes commemorations connect to biased or distorted versions of history, if not mere myths. We can also learn historical lessons through what I call repudiatory honouring: the honouring of certain victims or resistors that can only make sense if the oppressor(s) or target(s) of resistance are deemed unjust, where no part of the original objectionable commemorations is preserved. This type of commemorative practice can even help to overcome some of the obstacles objectionable commemorations pose against properly connecting to the past.

Objectionable Commemorations: Ethical and Political Issues

“…Moreover, and depending on the subject of the replacement commemoration, further valuable political goals can be secured. For instance, replacing objectionable commemorations with those that honour their victims, can be regarded as a form of repudiatory honouring – a practice that makes sense only upon the recognition of oppression (Lai, 2022). However, the possibility is open that objectionable commemorations (or their preservation) secures some significant value.…”

“…Even so, we can defend preserving such commemorations, on the basis of appealing to the salience of the latter type of facts (Abrahams, 2022; Lim, 2020a). However, this argument may not hold much weight in the face of a plurality of better alternatives to keeping records (Frowe, 2019; Lai, 2022).…”

“…Relocating objectionable commemorations to museums curtails their objectionable expressions, and thus mitigates the accompanying harms (Frowe, 2019). Museums can also provide detailed explanations and information, and even embed objectionable commemorations in critical or more educative views of history (Lai, 2022; Schulz, 2019; Shahvisi, 2021). However, museums are far from “objective” spaces.…”

“…Seventh, while a minority of scholars have started to explore commemorations and solutions in non‐Western countries – e.g. Korea (Yun, 2021), China (Lim, 2020b), and Taiwan (Lai, 2020, 2022) – very little engagement with non‐Western philosophical traditions has taken place (one noticeable example is Harris, 2023). We believe that more engagement with examples, solutions, and traditions outside the dominant philosophical literature and western politics will enrich our theorisation, and even help us come up with better solutions.…”

“…A commemorative landscape that results from this sense of discrimination can lead to a further problem. What is normally honoured can often be perceived as what ought to be honoured (Lai, 2022). When certain groups are significantly underrepresented in our commemorative landscape, we may mistakenly infer that this is because they are not the sorts of persons that should be honoured.…”