The Memory Museum: Death and Spectacle, Part 1

CW: Sensitive content regarding 9/11, terrorism, genocide, racial violence, spectacular death, dark tourism.

The sisters return from winter hiatus with an episode about atrocity, human suffering, spectacular death and how we choose to memorialize and regard the pain of others. Focusing primarily on the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, they ask — can we look back on catastrophe without becoming voyeuristic consumers? Can we honor victims without turning them into commodities? Can morbid curiosity and empathy coexist? When will tourists visit places like Ground Zero or Auschwitz in the way they visit Pompeii? Using Susan Sontag’s “Regarding the Pain of Others” (2003) as a critical framework, they dissect the role of images in memory making and the tension between private memory and public instruction. Other topics include images of torture at Abu Ghraib, Lynndie England as a specter for white women in lynching photography, Kerry James Marshall’s "Heirlooms and Accessories," and willed white innocence. Readings include works by Jacqueline Goldsby, Eduardo Cadava, Philip R. Stone & Alex Grebenar, Marita Sturken, Jennifer Senior, Mary Marshall Clark, and as always, our ultimate, Susan Sontag. Cover is Robert Capa's "Falling Soldier" (1936)