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Topic outline

 

  • Time: 4 hours
    Level: Introductory

 
 

Introduction

  • Introduction Resource
  • This unit gives you the opportunity to practise good study techniques using the theme of commemoration and memorials. It will help you to begin to think about how form influences meaning in the arts and...
 

1 War memorial and commemoration

  • 1 War memorial and commemoration Resource
  • In this unit you will have an opportunity to practise good study techniques using a framework within which to use them. Obviously, since you are shortly to begin your study of a range of disciplines, it...
 

2 The need to commemorate

  • 2 The need to commemorate Resource
  • The subject of memorial is a good one. People often have a powerful need to commemorate those who have died. They may have lost someone close to them, or they may be thinking about loss of life in disaster,...
 

3 Location of a war memorial

  • 3.1 Introduction Resource
  • Let us take up the question of the location of the war memorial. I am going to give you a list of places in which I would expect you to find your war memorial:
  • 3.2 Public or private memorial? Resource
  • The choice of location has wider implications, too. If the chosen site is in a public place, such as a park or village green in public ownership, then the building is accessible to all. No specific interest...
 

4 Form of memorial

  • 4 Form of memorial Resource
  • I now want you to think about the form of ‘your’ war memorial. I don't think you will have had any difficulty in knowing what to look for when I asked you whether you had a memorial near to you, and where...
 

5 Function of a memorial

  • 5 Function of a memorial Resource
  • We could, of course, extend this notion of appropriateness into other forms of civic building. If I had asked you to consider your local town hall, shopping centre or supermarket, we could have asked many...
 

6 Personal response to a memorial

  • 6 Personal response to a memorial Resource
  • But, you may be thinking, all our agreement up to now has shown that these perceptions and assumptions come from a common understanding of the appropriate form and meaning of a war memorial. Where, might...
 

7 Matching form and purpose

  • 7 Matching form and purpose Resource
  • Now let us look at war memorials themselves. We have already agreed that their form takes a shape that we think appropriate. The question to ask is: Why do we think that one building, one shape, is more...
 

8: Conclusion

  • 8: Conclusion Resource
  • I hope that you will agree that we have moved a long way from my original request to you to look at your local war memorial. You may have been stimulated to seek out other war memorials, and at the very...
 

References and Acknowledgements

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