Journal of Cultural Geography

ISSN: 0887-3631 (Print) 1940-6320 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjcg20

Remembering places: a phenomenological study

of the relationship between memory and place

Rob Briwa

To cite this article: Rob Briwa (2016) Remembering places: a phenomenological study of the
relationship between memory and place, Journal of Cultural Geography, 33:1, 130-132

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08873631.2015.1114700

Published online: 17 Feb 2016.

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 130 Book Reviews

female voice in a field long dominated by the male perspective. Zen of the
plains represents a well-crafted, intricately researched piece of geographic
writing weaving together classic and new resources from humanist and cultural
geography, nature writing, wilderness studies, cognitive theory, and landscape
perception within an intimate narrative illustrating the connection between
individual and landscape.

Sharon E. Wilcox
University of Texas at Austin
sharon.e.wilcox@gmail.com
© 2015, Sharon E. Wilcox
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08873631.2015.1114701

Remembering places: a phenomenological study of the relationship

between memory and place, by Janet Donohoe, Lanham, MD, Rowman &
Littlefield, 2014, xxi+159 pp., US$80.00 (hard cover), ISBN 978-0-7391-
8716-6

Janet Donohoe’s Remembering places uses a hermeneutical approach to

grapple with the complex interweaving of individual and collective memory,
traditions, and places. Donohoe’s exploration of the palimpsestic nature of
places and memories draws heavily from phenomenologist theorists, among
them Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Hans-
Georg Gadamer, and Edward Casey.
Remembering places consists of a brief introduction and five chapters,
which are divided into subsections that focus the reader’s attention and shape
the text’s direction. Readers should take some time on the introduction, as
Donohoe describes how Remembering places fits into phenomenological
approaches to memory and place. In doing so, she adeptly describes the intel-
lectual contributions made by major players in phenomenological scholarship.
This clear, concise overview of phenomenological scholarship stands out as a
strength of the text, particularly useful for those wishing to cut their teeth on
phenomenology’s contributions to place studies.
Remembering places aims to be

a phenomenological analysis focused on the bodily interactions with specific

places of collective memory in the form of monuments and memorials [to]
offer a much broader sense of place that accounts for its role in the constitution
of collective memories. (p. xiv)
 Book Reviews 131

Chapter 1 establishes the idea that self-identity and place identity are co-con-
stituted though bodily experiences of places, and these processes are crucial
in the development of individual memory. Synthesizing insights from Gaston
Bachelard and Husserl, Donohoe proposes that memories of home establish a
set of norms by which all other places are compared. Here, Donohoe explains
that an individual’s “homeworld” and “alienworld” are inextricably linked to
one another through place, and that place both produces and preserves
memory. Donohoe’s use of personal anecdote is particularly illuminating in
their explanatory power about the normative role of home. Chapter 2 devel-
ops links between individual memory and collective memory. Donohoe the-
orizes that “[j]ust as individual memory is connected to place and body, so
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the transmission of collective memory transpires through place” (p. 26),

with place being the common grounds for experience and memory. Chapter
2 also discusses links between collective memory and tradition, and once
again turns to place as the binding agent between the two. Tradition is sedi-
mented in monuments, and Donohoe writes that monuments are palimpsests
because they shift their significance over time because they embody the
tension between the processes of renewing and critiquing traditions.
Chapter 3 uses the previous discussion of place’s importance vis-à-vis
memory to explore individual and collective mourning and launches into a
discussion of memorials as sites of mourning, but also as contributing to indi-
vidual and collective identity. Chapter 4 uses an interpretative process
grounded in description to examine different types of memorials and monu-
ments. Donohoe’s discussions of impromptu and virtual memorials are brief
yet insightful, showing how they do not fulfill all of the roles of memorials.
The chapter closes with an in-depth discussion of permanent monuments.
From interpretative examinations of selected monuments emerge insights
about coercive, ideological monuments as well as “poetic” monuments.
Donohoe identifies poetic monuments as ones which do not force a particular
perspective and instead fosters ++a sedimentation of tradition and memory in
place which encourages a layered multiplicity of meanings. Donohoe cites
Maya Lin’s Vietnam Memorial and her Civil Rights Memorial as examples
of poetic monuments. Chapter 5 synthesizes the text’s previous discussions,
and Donohoe reminds us that memorials, if properly approached through a
hermeneutic process, still have a place in society, acting as palimpsests of tra-
dition and memory.
Much of the book’s content is derived from Donohoe’s previous publi-
cations. Remembering places generally succeeds in tying together these publi-
cations with additional insights and explanation, and is strengthened by the
author’s long time passion for, and reflections on, memorials, place, and
memory. At times, however, this approach causes minor issues. Repetition of
phrases and ideas slows the pacing of the text, and occasional editing decisions
obscure the text’s discussions. An example of this occurs on p. 115, where
Hannah Arendt’s monument categories are named yet not defined, whereas
 132 Book Reviews

in the original 2002 publication which Remembering places revisits, each cat-
egory is defined. Those familiar with Donohoe’s work will find this particular
example of no import, but readers new to the topic may stumble at such gaps in
the discussion.
Remembering places is a thought-provoking text about the co-dependen-
cies of memory, tradition, and place. Those unfamiliar with phenomenological
discourse will find Remembering places a challenging text that invites multiple
readings. The insights, however, offer strong reminders as to why cultural geo-
graphers should continue to study the power of place in embodying and
shaping collective memory.
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Rob Briwa
Kansas State University
© 2015, Rob Briwa
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08873631.2015.1114700