Blunt instruments : recognizing racist cultural infrastructure in memorials, museums, and patriotic practices / Kristin Ann Hass.
Publisher:
Beacon Press,
Copyright Date:
2022
Description:
246 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-235) and index.
Contents:
Memorials -- Museums -- Patriotic practices.
Summary:
"A field guide to the memorials, museums, and practices that commemorate white supremacy in the United States and how to reimagine a more deeply shared cultural infrastructure for the future"-- Provided by publisher. Cultural infrastructure has been designed to maintain structures of inequality, and while it doesn't seem to be explicitly about race, it often is. Blunt Instruments helps readers identify, contextualize, and name elements of our everyday landscapes and cultural practices that are designed to seem benign or natural but which, in fact, work tirelessly to tell us vital stories about who we are, how we came to be, and who belongs. Examining landmark moments such as the erection of the first American museum and Colin Kaepernick's kneeling pledge of allegiance, historian Kristin Hass explores the complicated histories of sites of cultural infrastructure, including the American Museum of Natural History, the Bridge to Freedom in Selma, Mount Auburn Cemetery, the Victory Highway, and more. With sharp analysis and a broad lens, Hass makes the undeniable case that understanding what cultural infrastructure is, and the deep and broad impact that it has, is essential to understanding how structures of inequity are maintained and how they might be dismantled.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.