Understanding of what happens when such symbols circulate through society.įor example, less than a week after Haley’s comments sparked controversy, Kehinde Wiley’s “Rumors of War” - a bronze equestrian statute of a young, modern black man that appropriates the visual rhetoric of Confederate memorials - was unveiled at its permanent home at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia, only two blocks from the erstwhile Confederate capital’s controversial Monument Avenue. This can help move us away from a restrictedĭebate about the “true meaning” of a given symbol, and toward a broader Perhaps more importantly, incorporating affective responses into the terms of theĭebate can provide a more robust understanding of the material effects that Confederate Ĭonsidering the significant role that “grievance on the South’s behalf” plays in the development of modern Southern identity can help make sense of Alabama Governor Kay Ivey’s defense of the state’s Memorial Preservation Act as a rejection of interference by “out-of-state liberals.” By identifying the feeling of encroachment that underlines many contemporary defenses of Confederate iconography, respondents can formulate counterarguments that directly address, rather than merely agitate, such feelings. Doing so can sharpen our understanding of why misconceptions about the historicity of Confederate symbolism endure despite the routine debunking of the historical myths that inform these misconceptions. Given this, we should also consider the kinds of affective responses that Confederate symbolism engenders. The answer lies not in how the history of the Confederate symbolism is understood,Įmotions have a significant influence on political thought and behavior, from the feeling of hope we place in political candidates to the anxiety we feel while watching the news. Is it that these attempts toward historiographical revision of the Confederateįlag fail to persuade the people who defend Confederate symbolism as a preservation of history? Perhaps JQuery('.search-field').on('input', function() )