Making Space for Memory After the Boston Marathon Bombing
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BearWorks MSU Graduate Theses Spring 2015 Moving Past: Making Space for Memory after the Boston Marathon Bombing Austin Thomas Jacobs As with any intellectual project, the content and views expressed in this thesis may be considered objectionable by some readers. However, this student-scholar’s work has been judged to have academic value by the student’s thesis committee members trained in the discipline. The content and views expressed in this thesis are those of the student-scholar and are not endorsed by Missouri State University, its Graduate College, or its employees. Follow this and additional works at: https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses Part of the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Jacobs, Austin Thomas, "Moving Past: Making Space for Memory after the Boston Marathon Bombing" (2015). 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MOVING PAST: MAKING SPACE FOR MEMORY AFTER THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING A Masters Thesis Presented to The Graduate College of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts, Religious Studies By Austin Jacobs May 2015 Copyright 2015 by Austin Jacobs ii MOVING PAST: MAKING SPACE FOR MEMORY AFTER THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING Religious Studies Missouri State University, May 2015 Master of Arts Austin Jacobs ABSTRACT In the aftermath of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, visitors from across the US and the world descended on Boston to pay their respects to the three people who were killed and the more than 260 who were injured at the race’s finish line. The public commemorated the tragedy in multiple and diffuse spaces, both physical and virtual. In recognition of this fact, I use the changing location of the spontaneous shrine as an organizing structure for this study, analyzing the memorialization in three “movements,” each of which corresponds to a physical relocation of the shrine itself in the weeks following the tragedy. Conducting interviews with Springfield, Missouri, residents who were present for the 2013 Boston Marathon and analyzing stories and interviews from the digital archive, I argue that bodily movement is the defining characteristic of the Boston Marathon memorialization process. The reflexive process of sharing material things and personal stories related to the bombing enhances the significance of the Marathon’s finish line in the public imagination, lending these artifacts the iconic power to shape attitudes toward the event. My conclusion is twofold: first, digital archives, while increasingly common, are inadequate for fully preserving memory. Second, the fact that the archivists when preserving do not distinguish between sacred and non-sacred implicitly deems all things worth saving. What is discarded, however, is the constellation of embodied interactions that led to their coexistence at a location characterized as sacred space KEYWORDS: Boston Marathon, ritual studies, religion and the body, material culture studies, visual culture studies, spontaneous shrines, critical spatiality, digital archives, memorialization, American civil religion This abstract is approved as to form and content _______________________________ John Schmalzbauer, PhD Chairperson, Advisory Committee Missouri State University iii MOVING PAST: MAKING SPACE FOR MEMORY AFTER THE BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING By Austin Jacobs A Masters Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College Of Missouri State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, Religious Studies May 2015 Approved: ____________________________________________ John Schmalzbauer, PhD ____________________________________________ Martha L. Finch, PhD ____________________________________________ Victor H. Matthews, PhD _____________________________________________ Thomas Tomasi, PhD: Associate Dean, Graduate College iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Religion Out of Place: Studying Material Culture at the Boston Marathon Finish Line .....1 Where’s the Religion? ............................................................................................14 Where’s the Researcher? ........................................................................................17 Where Words Fail: Running as a Ritual and Memorial Response to Tragedy ..................23 “Four hours, 50 minutes, and 31 days” ..................................................................24 Silence and Chaos ..................................................................................................28 Training the Body, Freeing the Mind ........................................................30 Embodying Ritual ......................................................................................34 The Silent Procession .................................................................................39 Conclusion: A Way Forward .................................................................................45 Mobilizing Memorials: Material and Spatial Politics at the Site of the Boston Marathon Bombing ............................................................................................................................49 Sacred Space, Disputed Territory ..........................................................................50 Closure in a Place of Open Wounds ......................................................................65 Conclusion .............................................................................................................79 Bodies in Motion, Objects at Rest: From Pilgrimage Site to Website............................... 81 Ceci n’est pas une croix .........................................................................................85 The Finish Line as Secondspace ............................................................................92 Speeding the Healing Process ................................................................................95 Things in Thirdspace ............................................................................................102 Losing Sight of Bodies ........................................................................................107 Conclusion: Making Space for Memory ..............................................................109 Appendices .......................................................................................................................123 Appendix A. Human Subjects IRB Approval ......................................................123 Appendix B. Timeline and Map of Events ..........................................................124 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Missourian Dan Bohannon .................................................................................42 Figure 2. Untitled photo .....................................................................................................42 Figure 3. Memorial Location 2 .........................................................................................55 Figure 4. Marathon Memorial taken down ........................................................................64 Figure 5. Memorial Crosses for Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi, Sean Collier, and Martin Richard at Copley Square Memorial ..................................................................................64 Figure 6. “Run Jane Run!” Copley Square Memorial .......................................................70 Figure 7. “Dear Boston” Exhibit ........................................................................................73 Figure 8. Untitled photo .....................................................................................................86 Figure 9. Visitors look at items left at the Copley Square Marathon Memorial ..............102 Figure 10. Items arranged at the Copley Square fence ....................................................108 vi RELIGION OUT OF PLACE: STUDYING MATERIAL CULTURE AT THE BOSTON MARATHON FINISH LINE “Every story is a travel story—a spatial practice.” – Michel de Certeau1 Through an act of terrorism at the 117th Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, the finish line of the world-renowned race was transformed from a place of joy and celebration to one of despair and disorientation. After the bombing, mourners gathered on Boylston Street to cross the finish line, depositing items nearby to form a memorial, or spontaneous shrine, in honor of the bombing victims. The memorial was moved multiple times: after its formation at the Boston Public Garden on Boylston Street, mourners moved the items to the barricade that blocked off Boylston Street near the marathon finish line. When Boylston Street reopened, city officials ordered the memorial to be moved. A group of volunteers moved the collection to the Bank of America building on the corner of Boylston and Berkeley Street. As more visitors streamed to the site, city officials moved the materials across the street and down the block to Copley Square, allowing visitors to view the memorial without disrupting the flow of vehicle or foot traffic in downtown Boston. In June, six weeks after the blasts, the thousands of items that made up the Copley Square Memorial were moved inside to the Boston City Archives. On April 7,