Do We Need (to Remember) Another Hero or Heroine? Some Thoughts on the History of Commemoration and Memory in Canada

Abstract

This article asks questions about the place of gender relations in the current scholarship on the history of commemoration and public memory in Canada. It surveys the current historiography on women’s work as avocational historians – representations of women and gender – and suggests ways of furthering our understanding of masculinity in the history of public memory. I also raise questions about the role of personal and intimate memories in the history of commemoration and the place of affect and emotion in it and other forms of memory. The article concludes with suggestions for further research into areas such as death and mourning, daily and intimate life, forms of nostalgia, holidays and festivals, and tales of haunting.