Materiality of Memory: Institutions, Functions, Artifacts, and Meaning

Abstract

A case example around creating an award packet from an event in Operation Enduring Freedom in 2010 in Marjah, Afghanistan. The timeline to create the award packet was from 2015-2026. The Marine creating the packet and a librarian assisting him invite the general public and scholars and practitioners in military, library, and veteran studies to consider the materiality of memory. We compare and contrast who has ownership of memories and artifacts and where does a person’s rights end and a professional’s responsibility begin, using our roles as examples. The different, yet shared experience led us to the following ethical and operational questions. Who has the right to remember? Who has the right to forget? Who has the responsibility to remember? Who has the resources to remember?