Brady WAGONER

2019-2020

Aalborg University

Memory, memorials, mourning, architecture, experience

Making Meaning of Modern Memorials: A Study of Grief and Collective Memory

Brady Wagoner received his PhD from the University of Cambridge and is now Professor of Psychology and Director of the MA and PhD programs in Cultural Psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark. He has also held visiting research positions in Brazil and France. His research focuses on the cultural and constructive dimensions of the mind, particularly in relation to memory, imagination and social change. He is associate editor of the journals Culture & Psychology and Peace & Conflict. He has received two early career awards from the American Psychological Association (divisions 24 and 26). Brady Wagoner received his PhD from the University of Cambridge and is now Professor of Psychology and Director of the MA and PhD programs in Cultural Psychology at Aalborg University, Denmark. He has also held visiting research positions in Brazil and France. His research focuses on the cultural and constructive dimensions of the mind, particularly in relation to memory, imagination and social change. He is associate editor of the journals Culture & Psychology and Peace & Conflict. He has received two early career awards from the American Psychological Association (divisions 24 and 26). 

This project aims to explore how people make sense of different kinds of memorial sites, which provide material for connecting the past to present and future challenges of a society. A key comparison here is between classical memorials (that use a monumental architecture to celebrate heroes and victories), and counter memorials (that are purposely built to generate different interpretations and ways of interacting with them). Three sites are compared: ‘Valley of the Fallen’ in Spain (the classical form), ‘Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe’ in Berlin, and the ‘National September 11 Memorial’ in New York (the counter form). The project analyzes visitors’ on-site experience and interpretation of different kinds of memorials, using a subjective camera that records first person video and audio.

Wagoner, B. (2017). The Constructive Mind: Bartlett’s Psychology in Reconstruction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Wagoner, B., Moghaddam, F. & Valsiner, J. (Eds.) (2018). The Psychology of Radical Social Change: From Rage to Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wagoner, B. (Ed)(2018). Handbook of Culture and Memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

Wagoner, B., Bresco, I., & Awad, S.H. (2019). Remembering as a Cultural Process. New York: Springer. 

Wagoner, B., Bresco, I., Zadeh, S. (Eds.) (in press). Memory in the Wild. Charlotte, N.C.: Information Age Publishers.




FOLLOW US

NEWSLETTER
PODCASTS
23/11/2017 - 11min 15s - Espagnol