Traumascapes: Progress and the Erasure of the Past

Summary

Urban landscapes, those densely populated spaces in which generations of people live, play, work, and die, are complex palimpsest of memories. But not all memories are treated the same or are even chosen to be remembered. My own experiences as an archaeologist living in a modest-sized, rust-belt city for nearly two decades has exposed the never-ending rush of "progress" to erase the past. At both my research sites and my home, I see communities harmed by the trauma of forced erasure of the past – forced forgetting. As landmarks, parks, homesteads, and factories that were once the backdrop of many people’s lives are destroyed, communities experience the disorientation and dislocation of memory. The demolition of the past is usually coated with a veneer of newness and the promise of better times ahead. But what trauma becomes embedded in the landscape once communities lose their physical connection to their past and their identities? What burdens are placed on those who are left to do the work of remembering? I propose that "traumascapes" are created in the violence of gentrification. Heritage practitioners interested in social justice must consider the traumatic effects of uncritical economic development.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 18856