Ganatantra Smārak (Republic Memorial): the politics of memory
Ganatantra Smārak (Republic Memorial): the politics of memory
This article examines the design competition, design process, and memorial-making process of the Ganatantra Smārak in Kathmandu, Nepal between 2009 and 2016 to reveal the politics of a memory project that embodies the problems of re-imagining the nation and proposing a credible resolution to Nepal's recent conflict. I argue that the space of the Narayanhit Palace is used to support the exchange of one national identity for another as the construction of the Ganatantra Smārak inscribes a new interpretation of the past into the national landscape. I suggest that it is not just the consigning of the monarchy to the past through the Narayanhiti Palace Museum, but also the fact that Nepal’s monarchical past can be forgotten at all that is in part constitutive of the new Republican identity. As a final attempt at dissociation (from the monarchical past), the Ganatantra Smārak was to mark the adoption of a new national identity and the beginning of a new phase in the meaning of the palace.
memorial, memory, Nepal, Kathmandu, national identity
171-216
Whitmarsh, Bryony
849ef749-8df7-418b-a8e5-ba95f89314f9
1 June 2019
Whitmarsh, Bryony
849ef749-8df7-418b-a8e5-ba95f89314f9
Whitmarsh, Bryony
(2019)
Ganatantra Smārak (Republic Memorial): the politics of memory.
Studies in Nepali History and Society, 24 (1), .
Abstract
This article examines the design competition, design process, and memorial-making process of the Ganatantra Smārak in Kathmandu, Nepal between 2009 and 2016 to reveal the politics of a memory project that embodies the problems of re-imagining the nation and proposing a credible resolution to Nepal's recent conflict. I argue that the space of the Narayanhit Palace is used to support the exchange of one national identity for another as the construction of the Ganatantra Smārak inscribes a new interpretation of the past into the national landscape. I suggest that it is not just the consigning of the monarchy to the past through the Narayanhiti Palace Museum, but also the fact that Nepal’s monarchical past can be forgotten at all that is in part constitutive of the new Republican identity. As a final attempt at dissociation (from the monarchical past), the Ganatantra Smārak was to mark the adoption of a new national identity and the beginning of a new phase in the meaning of the palace.
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Published date: 1 June 2019
Keywords:
memorial, memory, Nepal, Kathmandu, national identity
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Local EPrints ID: 472769
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/472769
ISSN: 1025-5109
PURE UUID: 4fe7f656-0b92-4d7b-a6ad-48e2e4c2416a
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Date deposited: 19 Dec 2022 17:30
Last modified: 07 Jan 2023 03:09
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Author:
Bryony Whitmarsh
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