Rust and dust: Materiality and the feel of memory at Camp des Milles

In this article, the authors explore the potential of state-sponsored memory sites to engender multi-chronological and sensorial accounts of the past, and create new meanings for visitors in doing so. They do this by recounting first-hand experiences of the Camp des Milles, a Second World War intern...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of material culture Vol. 23; no. 3; pp. 328 - 343
Main Authors Sumartojo, Shanti, Graves, Matthew
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London, England SAGE Publications 01.09.2018
Sage Publications Ltd
SAGE Publications (UK and US)
Subjects
Accounts
Antisemitism
Collective memory
Concentration camps
Consciousness
Cultural heritage and museology
Deportation
Dust
Ethnography
Geography
Historic buildings & sites
History
Humanities and Social Sciences
Internment
Meaning
Memory
Photography
Political science
Racism
Visitors
World War II
France
Aix-en-Provence France
memory
lieux de mémoire
sensory ethnography
minor gesture
materiality
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Summary:In this article, the authors explore the potential of state-sponsored memory sites to engender multi-chronological and sensorial accounts of the past, and create new meanings for visitors in doing so. They do this by recounting first-hand experiences of the Camp des Milles, a Second World War internment and deportation camp in the south of France, near Aix-en-Provence. Inaugurated in 2012, in addition to being an official lieu de mémoire, Camp des Milles also has an explicit pedagogical function in seeking to raise awareness of racism and anti-Semitism, and how to combat it. The article hinges on accounts of a visit to the site and accompanying photographs, which together provide an empirical starting point for a series of linked concepts that frame their arguments. Beginning with Manning’s notion of the ‘minor gesture’ (The Minor Gesture, 2016), the authors build on recent work on more-than-representational approaches to memory and place, and draw in explorations of materiality and industrial ruins. Overall, they call for a more subtle and atmospheric understanding of state-sponsored memory sites, an understanding that attends to the emergent experiences people have in them, which allow us to understand their affective impact more clearly, and thus their potential to promulgate and intensify their messages.
ISSN:1359-1835
1460-3586
DOI:10.1177/1359183518769110