Mapping Memorialization of Pandemic Experiences 

While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to inflict pain and death upon contemporary society, there are already many examples from around the world of memorialization. The heritagization of pandemics is a common reaction to such traumatic experiences, but in what ways does culture and politics influence these processes? This project investigated this question by using a multi-sited collection of cases of the heritagization of COVID-19 memorials from around the world drawn from media and government sources. Using approaches from anthropology and heritage studies, the cases were analyzed to determine how culture and history influenced the way in which memorialization of the trauma of pandemics occurred in local contexts. Different forms of COVID-19 memorialization were discovered including spontaneous memorials like the laying of flowers and candles, more organized days of remembrance for a certain group of stakeholders like healthcare workers, as well as the official establishment of monuments that became managed by the state or private enterprises. In some cases, the potential for the heritage of past pandemics was also apparent, such as plague columns, to be reappropriated to support processes of mourning. This exploration took the form of a mapping of memorials, an exercise which could also be understood as the seed for future scholarly research on the memorialization of the COVID-19 pandemic, a material and discursive guide for museum curators collecting on coronavirus impacts, or a database for any exhibition on the topic. 

This project was a collaboration with the brilliant Dr. Laia Colomer, Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research. It received special coronavirus funding from the Research Council of Norway that was allocated by NIKU.