Where do we go from here: The pasts, presents and futures of Ground Zero

Abstract

Spring 2006, when the rebuilding of Ground Zero began, was a unique moment in time -a turning point for the New York site and its publics. It signified transformation from debris to a memorial museum; a move from past catastrophe to future memories, as the nationalized narration of the events in the formal exhibit on site emphasized. Surprisingly, while the end result was already known, this moment of transformation allowed different audiences to put at halt the nationalized interpretation of the events of 9/11 and engage in personal, collected and collective, local and global, perspectives on the past, while enacting the presents and futures which seem to unfold from them. This article examines these distinct yet connected moments in order to reveal the different connections that people and governments make between pasts, presents and futures. It uses a non-linear approach to time, which explores and reworks the tension between linearity and relativity, as a sensitive lens to a political change that has proceeded well beyond the interaction on site.On 13 March 2006, after countless delays, construction works began at Ground Zero. The fi rst day of rebuilding started with the families of police offi cers and fi refi ghters who died on 9/11 while helping to rescue others staging a protest. This protest, one in a long series of on-site demonstrations, petition signing and press conferences to prevent the realization of the planned memorial, was the only public dispute that day. This was surprising, since until that fi rst day of rebuilding, many voices were heard on site, contesting the offi cial narration of the events of 9/11. In addition to political activities of 'memory publics' such as the families, there were conspiracy activists who questioned the offi cial version of the events and their cause, many extemporal manmade memorials to individuals and groups among the victims of the terror attack, spontaneous personal testimonies to the events and to the development of the site, MEMORY STUDIES

The resounding echoes of memory in terrorism and political aggression

“…In this issue, and in other recent publications, the social framing and conceptualization of a terrorist event as a major component of mobilization before and after an attack takes place, is addressed (Assad, 2007;Smith, 2002;Gutman, 2009;Hancock et al, 2010;Brown & Hoskins, 2010;Janes, 2010). Special attention should be given to the medium through which terrorism is remembered and commemorated.…”

“…Studies on memory and more recent terrorism and political aggression have discussed the narration, visulalization, witnessing, embodiment and meanings in the experience and commemoration of 9/11 and the 'War on Terror' (Boyer, 2002;Gutman, 2009;Hirsch, 2004;Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, 2003;Smith, 2002;Sturken, 2004Sturken, , 2007, state violence and torture in Latin America (Feitlowitz, 1998;Taylor, 1994Taylor, , 1997Taylor, , 2007, and the employment of 'memory work' among groups to facilitate acknowledgment and reconciliation with an atrocious past (Irwin-Zarecka, 1994, 1995.…”

Looking backward to the future: Counter-memory as oppositional knowledge-production in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict

“…According to these models, social movements and peace organizations in particular are not only first and foremost future-oriented (a polarizing past is often intentionally put aside), but they also rely on a progressive, linear plan to move from present problems to a predetermined future solution, using preset means (Hermann, 2009; Lofland, 1993). Memory activism seeks instead to first look backward to intervene in society’s dominant understanding of the past in a way that affects the understanding of present problems and projects future resolutions (Gutman, 2011).…”

Interpreting conflicting narratives: Young people’s recollections of the terrorist attacks in Norway 2011

“…Norman Brown and Peter Lee show that terrorist attacks, and other so-called emotionally charged events, affect people’s feelings and beliefs but do not affect autobiographical memory as much as epoch-defining events, such as wars and natural disasters do (Brown and Lee, 2010). A comparatively extensive area of research concerns how acts of terrorism can be remembered in markedly different ways through the use of memorials (Allen and Brown, 2011; Fagerland, 2016; Gutman, 2009; Jordheim, 2013; Linenthal, 2001; Sánchez-Carretero, 2006), including the dramatic change of an urban landscape in the way “the rubble of World Trade Center was transformed into stratigraphies of pain” (Boyer, 2002: 117). In a comparative study of the annual commemorations of the victims of terrorism in Bologna, Naples and Madrid, sociologist Anna Lisa Tota shows how the processes of collective memory construction have implications for the functioning of democracy (Tota, 2005).…”