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Second glance at roadside memorials

June 25, 2004

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The first international symposium on roadside memorials will take place at the University of New England this weekend.

From Friday, June 25, lecturers from around the world will meet at the University to take part in discussions, present papers and lead seminars on the subject.

“Memorial culture and grief expression reflect social values,” said the organiser, Dr Jennifer Clark, a Senior Lecturer in UNE’s School of Classics, History and Religion.

“Research into the phenomenon is taking place around the world. As a community of scholars with common interests, it is timely that we meet to discuss our understanding and encourage each other to explore new directions.”


The symposium will focus particularly on roadside memorials to road crash victims, but will also discuss popular memorial practice in general. “The outpouring of grief at the death of the Princess of Wales produced an unparalleled response,” Dr Clark said. “So many people felt moved to write messages and leave flowers at significant places in her life and at the scene of her death. The extent of the public response may have been unique but the form was not. Everyday ordinary people who die tragically are remembered in similar ways.”

Speakers at the symposium will include Dawn Mathews from Colorado in the United States, who will talk about a roadside memorial project there, and Gerri Excell from the University of Reading in the UK, whose talk will be titled “Roadside Memorials in the UK: Private Grief made Public”.

Professor Michael Macklin, Dean of UNE’s Faculty of Arts, will introduce the symposium, and UNE academics Professor Majella Franzmann (with a talk titled “Highway to Heaven: the Cosmology of the Roadside Memorial”) and Dr Margaret Gibson (speaking on “The Death Drive”) will be among the participants.

Complementing the symposium is an exhibition of photographs entitled Cross Roads, by Sergeant John Robinson of the New Zealand Highway Patrol. This is at the New England Regional Art Museum. The photographs show roadside memorials in New Zealand.

For more information about the symposium, phone Dr Jennifer Clark on (02) 6773 2127.


Media contact: Dr Jennifer Clark on (02) 6773 2127, Lydia Roberts (UNE Public Relations Manager) on (02) 67732779, or Jim Scanlan (UNE Public Relations) on (02) 6773 3049.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at June 25, 2004 10:01 AM