Anxious Landscapes

This final chapter continues an exploration of collective memory, turning to the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre in order to examine the intersections of place and collective forgetfulness. The chapter argues that this site represents an “anxious landscape” of the American West.

Brigham Young, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Latter-Day Saint Investigation of the Mountain Meadows Massacre

10.2307/j.ctt4cgmfm ◽

2007 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas G. Alexander

Keyword(s):

The Mountain Meadows Massacre and “poisoned springs”: scientific testing of the more recent, anthrax theory

International Journal of Legal Medicine ◽

10.1007/s00414-012-0681-y ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 127 (1) ◽

pp. 77-83 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Ugo A. Perego ◽

Alessandro Achilli ◽

Jayne E. Ekins ◽

Lucio Milani ◽

Martina Lari ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mountain Meadows ◽

Scientific Testing

Bringing the Past to LifeHouse of Mourning: A Biocultural History of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. By Shannon Novak. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2008.

Current Anthropology ◽

10.1086/598787 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 50 (3) ◽

pp. 405-406

Author(s):

Anne L. Grauer

Keyword(s):

Salt Lake ◽

Salt Lake City ◽

University Of Utah ◽

The Past ◽

History Of ◽

Lake City ◽

Mountain Meadows Massacre: Collected Legal Papers. 2 Volumes. Edited by Richard E. Turley Jr., Janiece L. Johnson, and LaJean Purcell Carruth

Western Historical Quarterly ◽

10.1093/whq/why056 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 49 (3) ◽

pp. 354-355

Author(s):

John E Baucom

Keyword(s):

Leave Taking: Materialities of Moving Over Land

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s0959774314000535 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 477-485 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Shannon A. Novak

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Life History ◽

American History ◽

Degrees Of Freedom ◽

Human Agency ◽

Human Bones ◽

History Of ◽

Leave Taking ◽

Drawing on recent theories of materiality and non-human agency, this article examines the aftermath of a compelling episode in American history, the Mountain Meadows massacre of 1857. In particular, I focus on certain ‘extensions’ of the massacre victims, as they encounter and become entangled with other material traces and embodied remembrances over the course of the twentieth century. An initial illustration of this process is drawn from the life history of an Arkansas native whose movements to and from his homeland have entangled him in the vast assemblage brought together by the events at Mountain Meadows. I then turn to the rupture in this assemblage that was triggered in 1999 by the exposure of human bones at the massacre site. Materiality theory highlights the ways in which some objects (or their parts) persist and remain inalienable, while others circulate with varying degrees of freedom. Patterns of persistence and circulation are analysed here by focusing on two kinds of objects with intimate ties to the massacre victims: the bodies of the 17 surviving children, and six buttons made of glass and metal.