‘Making Change’ in the memorial landscape to the Dakota–US War of 1862: remembrance, healing and justice through affective participation in the Dakota Commemorative March (DCM)

Title‘Making Change’ in the memorial landscape to the Dakota–US War of 1862: remembrance, healing and justice through affective participation in the Dakota Commemorative March (DCM)
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsG. E. John, K. M. Carlson
JournalSocial & Cultural Geography
Volume17
Issue8
Pagination987-1016
ISSN14649365
Abstract

The Dakota–US War of 1862 led to the removal and exile of Dakota people from their ancestral homeland. Integral to this process was the forced march of 1,700 women, children and elders from the Lower Sioux Agency to Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Despite the siting of numerous memorials related to the war and its aftermath, few mark the forced march and its legacies. Since 2002, however, the seven-day Dakota Commemorative March (DCM) has been held biennially to remember and honour Dakota ancestors on the original forced march. Following a brief overview of extant place-based memorials at sites along its path, we draw on documentary sources to explore the significance of the DCM as a distinctive Dakota intervention in the commemorative landscape. Through a process we call ‘affective participation’ – an intense bodily, emotive and transformative engagement in an event – participants on the DCM not only seek to remember but also strive towards healing and justice in the present and the future. Our hope is to expand the focus of current geographical work on discrete site-based memorials to consider the social- and cultural-geographical significance of alternative (particularly Native) forms and scales of commemoration. (English)

DOI10.1080/14649365.2016.1147062
Short Title‘Making Change’ in the memorial landscape to the Dakota–US War of 1862