This essay examines Moving Memories, the 9/11 Memorial in Tucson, Arizona, as an instance of resistance to dominant ideologies regarding the public memory of national tragedy. Though Moving Memories was designed to reveal the conflicting viewpoints embodied by those affected by 9/11, area residents and government representatives argue that it fails to capture the “true” sentiment of Arizonans. This analysis provides a theoretical interrogation of the memorial’s unveiling and later contestation, illustrates the political value of unity over dissention, and theorizes the implications of spatiality in memorialization by way of a detailed review of one of Moving Memories’ particularly divisive features.
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