Epilogue—Turning to the Wall: Concepts across Space and Time

Authors

  • György Tóth University of Stirling Scotland, United Kingdom

Keywords:

commentary, Trump, historical memory, metonymy, art

Abstract

György Tóth
University of Stirling
Scotland, United Kingdom

Epilogue—Turning to the Wall:
Concepts across Space and Time

Abstract: The epilogue to this journal issue interrogates a variety of aspects of walls as mental structures and tropes of historical memory. Engaging with the issue’s contributing authors, Tóth argues that the idea of the wall functions as metonymy, activating a siege mentality and mobilizing its target audience – hence its rhetorical power and attraction as policy. Discussing the wall’s symbology as a border of the nation state but also pointing out its increasing privatization, the piece concludes with an exploration of the potential that walls may have for the creative subversion of their original function to seal off, categorize and divide humans.

Keywords: commentary, Trump, historical memory, metonymy, art

Author Biography

György Tóth, University of Stirling Scotland, United Kingdom

György Tóth holds degrees from Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary (M.A.s in English Language & Lit and American Studies) and The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA (Ph.D. in American Studies). In his academic specializations, György combines U.S. cultural and social history with Transnational American Studies, Performance Studies and Memory Studies to yield interdisciplinary insights into the politics of U.S. social and cultural movements in post-1945 Europe. Since December 2014 György has been serving as Lecturer in post-1945 U.S. History and Transatlantic Relations at the Division of History and Politics of the University of Stirling, Scotland, UK. His book From Wounded Knee to Checkpoint Charlie was published by SUNY Press in 2016. http://www.sunypress.edu/p-6245-from-wounded-knee-to-checkpoint.aspx

References

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Walls, Material and Rhetorical: Past, Present, and Future—RIAS Vol. 11, Spring–Summer (1/2018)

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Published

2018-06-30

How to Cite

Tóth, G. (2018). Epilogue—Turning to the Wall: Concepts across Space and Time. Review of International American Studies, 11(1). Retrieved from https://trrest.vot.pl/ojsus/index.php/RIAS/article/view/6390

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2018): Walls, Material and Rhetorical: Past, Present, and Future—RIAS Vol. 11, Spring–Summer (1/2018)

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