Bavidge, Eleanor (2009) Heterotopias of Memory: Cultural Memory in and around Newcastle upon Tyne. Doctoral thesis, University of Sunderland. Downloaded from: http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/3558/ Usage guidelines Please refer to the usage guidelines at http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected]. Heterotopias of Memory: Cultural Memory in and around Newcastle upon Tyne Eleanor Bavidge A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Sunderland for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy July 2009 Acknowledgements I would like to thank the University of Sunderland for the financial support I received during the research for this thesis. My primary thanks go to Professor John Storey for his positive and stimulating supervision. But thanks go to everyone at the Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Sunderland for being such sociable and supportive colleagues. They have been good friends and role models. In particular, Dr Angela Werndly and Dr Clarissa Smith have always offered cheerful support and much needed perspective over the years. I would also like to thank Professor Andrew Crisell for listening to my ideas on various late night car journeys and, along with Angela Smith, for constructively commenting on my work during the writing of this thesis. Outside of the University, Jon Davies has been kind enough to lend me his books long-term and has been an excellent source of information. Personal thanks go to all my family, particularly, to my father. If I ever doubted it before I now know that his saintliness knows no bounds. This thesis is dedicated to him. 2 Abstract The aim of the research is to examine the multiple spatial frameworks and materially manifested forms of memory by applying current memory studies theory to four areas of memorial experience: personal memory, civic memory, tourism and film. The thesis looks at memory practices based in the North East, particularly those that take place in Newcastle upon Tyne, and explores how the city is remembered in specific memory practices and institutions. Combining work in memory studies and cultural geography, the thesis highlights how memory is spatialized and is particularly concerned with the city that shapes, and is shaped by, memory and memory practices. Changes have taken place in the relationship between space, place and temporality that have affected memory and practices of memorialization. At first glance, the technologies we use and the spaces we inhabit can be interpreted as leading to a pervasive amnesia. The thesis challenges this assumption. It proposes that the concept of heterotopia provides a critical mode of reading memory spaces offering a more positive account of the way memory is currently being experienced. The thesis looks at how memory is realized in the fabric of the city and how the historical city itself is represented through the discursive practices of memorial public art, the museum and the cinema, creating a collective cultural memory. The particular contribution that this thesis makes is that it tests the explanatory power of the concept of heterotopia in relation to memorial sites and it applies memory studies to the city of Newcastle in a time of transition and renewal. 3 List of Contents Acknowledgements........................................................................................................2! Abstract..........................................................................................................................3! List of Figures................................................................................................................5! Memory, Place and Heterotopia ....................................................................................6! i) What is Memory Studies? ................................................................................13! ii) The Social Turn...............................................................................................17! iii) The Structure of Memory Studies..................................................................20! iv) The History of Memory Studies.....................................................................26! v) Walking in the City of Memory ......................................................................38! vi) Heterotopias of Memory ................................................................................53! vii) Conclusion.....................................................................................................60! Private Memory and Public Space...............................................................................75! i) Home: the First House of Memory...................................................................80! ii) The Memory Object ........................................................................................88! iii) Media and ‘Conspicuous Compassion’..........................................................99! iv) Agencies of Memory....................................................................................104! v) Roadside Memorials and the Transformation of Space ................................108! vi) Meaning and Practice: From the Secular to the Sacred................................137! Memory and Monument ............................................................................................145! i) Between Wars.................................................................................................151! ii) Regenerating Memory: Old Memories in New Places..................................164! iii) Thresholds and Mirrors................................................................................189! iv) The Angel of History....................................................................................195! Memory and the Museum..........................................................................................207! i) ‘Honey and aspic’: Life in Fantasy Space......................................................209! ii) ‘That was the year my father died’: Participant Observation at Beamish.....217! iii) Museum and Space: Theme Park or Heterotopia?.......................................235! Memory and Film: Get Carter...................................................................................254! i) Film, Memory and Place ................................................................................255! ii) Newcastle: The Heterotopic ‘craphouse’ ......................................................259! iii) Screening Time in the City ..........................................................................272! Conclusion .................................................................................................................282! i) The Chapters...................................................................................................284! ii) Heterotopias of Memory ...............................................................................288! Bibliography ..............................................................................................................294! 4 List of Figures Figure 1.1 South Gosforth, 2005 ..........................................................................111! Figure 1.2 South Gosforth, 2009 ..........................................................................111! Figure 1.3 South Gosforth, March 2009 ..............................................................112! Figure 1.4 Coast Road, City Bound, 2009 ..........................................................112! Figure 1.5 Coast Road, City Bound, 2005 ..........................................................117! Figure 1.6 Coast Road, Coast Bound, 2009.......................................................117! Figure 1.7 Newcastle Road, 2009 ........................................................................121! Figure 1.8 Coast Road, Coast Bound 2009........................................................121! Figure 1.9 Heaton, 2007 ........................................................................................128! Figure 1.10 Heaton, 2007 ......................................................................................128! Figure 1.11 Durham, 2005.....................................................................................131! Figure 1.12 South Gosforth, 2009 ........................................................................131! Figure 1.13 Newcastle Road, 2009......................................................................132! Figure 1.14 Newcastle Road, 2009......................................................................132! Figure 1.15 Newcastle Road, 2009......................................................................133! Figure 1.16 Newcastle Road, 2009......................................................................133! Figure 1.17 Coast Road, Coast Bound................................................................136! Figure 1.18 Coast Road, Coast Bound................................................................136! Figure 2.1 The Response, Newcastle, Haymarket ............................................154! Figure 2.2 St George and Dragon, Newcastle, Old Eldon Square..................154! Figure 2.3 Andy Goldsworthy, Cone ....................................................................172! Figure 2.4 Sally Matthews Goats..........................................................................172! Figure 2.5 NewcastleGateshead Initiative