Description
In this book, Louise Zamparutti interrogates the agency of memorial artifacts through an in-depth case study of one memorial site, the Foiba di Basovizza in northeast Italy.
Zamparutti advances three main arguments: that memorial sites are not essentially immobile but are constituted by constantly changing interacting forces; that these forces are persuasive, agential, and dynamic; and that affective engagement with memorial sites can promote extremist political views. She introduces the concept of object positionality, which she situates in dialogue with positionality theories, new materialism, and her own experience with dance and choreography, in particular the concept of Ma, or the space in-between. Zamparutti combines fieldwork with analysis of historical texts and political literature to identify specific human and non-human forces that influenced how the Foiba di Basovizza shifted from a niche issue of Trieste's far right to become a popular national monument with international impact. She illustrates how the memorial promotes pro-fascist values and policies by conjuring a religious sense of mystery, iterating an exclusive view of national identity, and inviting identification with normative gender and ethnic constructs.
Ultimately, her analysis reveals how a web of interacting elements including historical context, geographic environment, and sociopolitical circumstances construct the memorial's meaning as much as authorial intent. Zamparutti concludes by examining how the Foiba di Basovizza exists in dialogue with neighboring memorials, some of which echo and others that contradict its pro-fascist narrative. She proposes that object positionality provides a way to see beyond human intention alone and better understand the changing agency of memorial objects.