Memorial Assemblages: An Actor-Network Theory Account of Collective Memory, Commemoration and the National Holocaust Monument in Canada

Memory studies scholars often argue that the concept of collective memory is disparate and ambiguous, lacking theoretical and methodological development. Given this, the often studied relationship between physical memorials and collective remembrance remains problematic. Accordingly, this thesis draws on Actor-Network Theory (ANT), an approach that largely resides outside of memory studies literature, in order to situate memorials and monuments within a tenable analytical framework of collective memory. The utility of this framework is demonstrated through an empirically-based analysis of the National Holocaust Monument project in Ottawa, Canada. Rather than posit a fixed definition of collective memory, the aim is to treat collective remembrance as something that is enacted through and ultimately an effect of heterogeneous networks of material-semiotic relationships. It is argued that when it is taken as such, the role of the monument within collective remembrance becomes more attributable and coherent in regards to broader mnemonic processes.