The Arlington Confederate Monument: Resistance to Rationalization and Critique of Federal Ideology through Federal Sculpture

• In Event: 365 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 06. Culture and Politics

Abstract

This paper approaches the analysis of the Confederate Monument at Arlington National Cemetery as a source and emblem of ideological conflict between the federal government/north and southern memorial organizations/south concerning the history of the Civil War, the American south, and southern identity. Arguing that the representatives of the north used the monument as a means to standardize the history of the War and diminish the uniqueness of southern identity, this paper examines how representatives of the south, primarily represented by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), used the monument to resist this attempt at standardizing a hegemonic narrative and also critique current dominant ideologies surrounding southern history and the southern people. The UDC uses the monument to “correct” history, preserve the “Lost Cause” mythology, and associate their story with the Divine.

Authors

• Jeffrey A. Halley, University of Texas-San Antonio

• Thomas R. Moore, Vanderbilt University