Spontaneous Memorials

03 Jul 2024

Understanding Collective Grief: Dr. Kostas Arvanitis explores museums and trauma memorials

In the aftermath of tragic events, spontaneous memorials consisting of flowers, candles, flags and notes and so on, often emerge as expressions of collective grief and remembrance. Led by Dr. Kostas Arvanitis, a Senior Lecturer in Museology in SALC, ‘Museums and Spontaneous Memorials: A Museology of Trauma’, explores the complexities surrounding the collection, documentation, and curation of these tributes.

This interdisciplinary project, in partnership with The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support, addresses the pressing needs of cultural institutions faced with the challenges of trauma collection. By integrating insights from museology, heritage studies, memory studies, disaster studies, and health and wellbeing, the project aims to inform and transform cultural policy and practice on both a local and global scale.

As Dr. Arvanitis notes: “Central to the project is the recognition of diverse stakeholders, including families of the bereaved, survivors, and the wider public. Through empathetic and sustainable approaches to memorialisation, the research will endeavour to support the multi-faceted needs of communities grappling with collective trauma.” The research will lay the groundwork for a global network of experts dedicated to supporting cultural stakeholders with the need to manage spontaneous memorials.