Myth in Practice
Myth in Practice
Visitors at the Temporary Memorial Site
In this chapter, the author offers impressions of visitors to the temporary memorial site in Shanksville for United Airlines Flight 93 based on the interviews he conducted during the summer and fall of 2009. In particular, he examines how the various elements of the Flight 93 narrative and memorialization process were understood by people who visited the site. His goal was to determine how the signs at the temporary memorial were actually interpreted by those who came there. He describes the physical layout of the memorial site and its general manner of access by visitors, along with the visitors' opinions about the permanent memorial design. He also considers the memorial visitors' sense of the role played by religion in the events of 9/11, and specifically of the crash of Flight 93, and their aftermath. Finally, he discusses the role of the Ambassadors from the National Park Service in shaping visitors' response and interpretation of what they saw at the site.
Keywords: temporary memorial, Shanksville, United Airlines Flight 93, interviews, memorialization, memorial design, memorial visitors, religion, 9/11, Ambassadors
NYU Press Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
