The Eventisation of Anniversary Activity: Investing in 1989

Saunders, Anna ORCID: 0000-0002-3213-1334 (2020) The Eventisation of Anniversary Activity: Investing in 1989. German Life and Letters, 73 (3). pp. 464-489. ISSN 0016-8777, 1468-0483

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Abstract

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>This article traces the development of anniversary activity marking the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ‘peaceful revolution’ of 1989 in Berlin, through a focus on the official procedures and routines of significant anniversary years. It argues that the date is undergoing a process of ‘eventisation’, driven in part by an ‘attention economy’, in which embodied performances and rituals are developed, and participants are increasingly assimilated as ‘prosumers’. In particular, three central elements are analysed: first, the role of different <jats:italic>mise‐en‐scènes</jats:italic>, second, the significance of shifting narratives, and third, the growth of emotional engagement. The article argues that a celebratory anniversary tradition is now developing alongside Germany's predominantly cathartic dialogue with the past, and that the emerging routine around 9 November represents a new type of cultural performance, which brings together narratives of victimhood with those of jubilation. It also demonstrates that the built environment proves central to the messages that are conveyed, as the cityscape, its broader history, and its newly emerging sites of memory not only act as the backdrop to events, but significantly also shape the resulting rituals and narratives.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4703 Language Studies, 4705 Literary Studies
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	26 Jun 2020 10:26
Last Modified:	07 Dec 2024 11:17
DOI:	10.1111/glal.12277
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3090461