Attention! Unequal Commemoration and Other Injustices of Attention

This project seeks to explore the politics of public commemoration and add to current debates over who is–or isn’t–worthy of commemoration.

As attention is often a scare resource, the question of whom to commemorate and whom to overlook creates a problem that this project aims to address.

Professor Stemplowska will establish the duties of commemoration, to whom commemoration is owed, what exactly is owed and how to deal with the fact that there are many candidates while people disagree whom to commemorate.

She will use these findings to identify commemorative gaps and over-commemoration in a way that acknowledges the value of those who are no longer alive while addressing specific debates in a rigorous and constructive manner.