National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Collaborative Research Grant
An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Methods, Goals, and Ethics of Memorialization
Grant Amount: $50,000
Memorials are more than statues and plaques—they are powerful symbols that shape our understanding of history, identity, and community. Yet, the processes behind creating and contextualizing these symbols often differ across fields. Scholars in history, law, sociology, and philosophy have studied memorials for years, but rarely do they come together to explore shared challenges and new approaches.
This initiative bridges that gap by bringing experts from various disciplines together for a first-of-its-kind conference focused on the ethics, methods, and goals of memorialization. Through dialogue, workshops, and public engagement, we aim to spark new ideas, foster collaboration, and contribute to ongoing conversations about how we both do and should remember the past.
This initiative is focused on:
Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue: Bringing together experts from law, geography, history, philosophy, sociology, and law to share insights on memorialization.
Ethical Considerations: Tackling key ethical questions, such as representation, inclusivity, moral modeling, and power dynamics in memorials.
Practical Methods: Exploring best practices for designing and contextualizing memorials.
Societal Impact: Understanding how memorials shape cultural identity, memory, social cohesion, laws, and access.
Conference Overview
The conference, “An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Methods, Goals, and Ethics of Memorialization,” took place at the University of Mississippi in March.
Grant Overview
National Endowment for the Humanities
Collaborative Research Grant
The Collaborative Research program supports teams of scholars in advancing humanistic knowledge through joint projects that result in either a manuscript for print publication or a digital product. Proposals may focus on research within a single field or take an interdisciplinary approach.
Expected Outcomes
Online Resources:
Access videos of talks and presentations, abstractions of presented papers, and the conference program on University of Mississippi's eGrove repository and The Center for Practical Ethics website.
Special Journal Issue:
Both submitted and invited papers explore the topic of memorialization, curated into a single issue for leading research.
Public Engagement:
Links to resources and additional events on the topic provide networks for learning and research.