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Roadside Crosses in Contemporary Memorial Culture
A fifteen-year-old high school cheerleader is killed while driving on a dangerous curve one afternoon. By that night, her classmates have erected a roadside cross decorated with silk flowers, not as a grim warning, but as a loving memorial.
In this study of roadside crosses, the first of its kind, Holly Everett presents the history of these unique commemoratives and their relationship to contemporary memorial culture. The meaning of these markers is presented in the words of grieving parents, high school students, public officials, and private individuals whom the author interviewed during her fieldwork in Texas.
Everett documents over thirty-five memorial sites with twenty-five photographs representing the wide range of creativity. Examining the complex interplay of politics, culture, and belief, she emphasizes the importance of religious expression in everyday life and analyzes responses to death that this tradition. Roadside crosses are a meeting place for communication, remembrance, and reflection, embodying on-going relationships between the living and the dead. They are a bridge between personal and communal pain—and one of the oldest forms of memorial culture.
Scholars in folklore, American studies, cultural geography, cultural/social history, and material culture studies will be especially interested in this study.
In this study of roadside crosses, the first of its kind, Holly Everett presents the history of these unique commemoratives and their relationship to contemporary memorial culture. The meaning of these markers is presented in the words of grieving parents, high school students, public officials, and private individuals whom the author interviewed during her fieldwork in Texas.
Everett documents over thirty-five memorial sites with twenty-five photographs representing the wide range of creativity. Examining the complex interplay of politics, culture, and belief, she emphasizes the importance of religious expression in everyday life and analyzes responses to death that this tradition. Roadside crosses are a meeting place for communication, remembrance, and reflection, embodying on-going relationships between the living and the dead. They are a bridge between personal and communal pain—and one of the oldest forms of memorial culture.
Scholars in folklore, American studies, cultural geography, cultural/social history, and material culture studies will be especially interested in this study.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published September 11, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 8, 2019
A sobering study from 2002. I can't help think of the specific crosses mentioned and who the crosses were there for. If those teenagers had lived, they'd be approaching middle age by now. Since roadside crosses are ephemeral things, I wonder if any of the ones mentioned in this book (apart from the MADD crosses) exist anymore. If their classmates still think of them and visit the sites.
Other than the more personal bits of this study, I did find the use of spontaneous memorials fascinating. I think it's an attribute to the human race to know that people feel so deeply and that they decide, often without consultation, to build/contribute to a memorial site.
This study was based in Texas, and seemed to imply that roadside crosses were the most common in Texas because of the connection to Mexico and the culture of wayside memorials. However, I've definitely seen roadside crosses in Iowa. I even know someone who put one up - as a reminder to the family of a girl who killed someone via distracted driving (and wasn't punished for it. I was still in middle school at the time, but I remember it being big drama in town. Since she was a teen, it's hard to say what punishment she would have deserved, but someone DID die from her actions. The person whose land they crashed into wasn't about to let it go out of empathy with the bereaved family.) I also remember seeing a cross and a string of flowers tied to a pole (I think near Burger King.) I always wondered at it.
The font took a bit to get used to, but I would honestly be interested in reading more about contemporary memorial culture.
Other than the more personal bits of this study, I did find the use of spontaneous memorials fascinating. I think it's an attribute to the human race to know that people feel so deeply and that they decide, often without consultation, to build/contribute to a memorial site.
This study was based in Texas, and seemed to imply that roadside crosses were the most common in Texas because of the connection to Mexico and the culture of wayside memorials. However, I've definitely seen roadside crosses in Iowa. I even know someone who put one up - as a reminder to the family of a girl who killed someone via distracted driving (and wasn't punished for it. I was still in middle school at the time, but I remember it being big drama in town. Since she was a teen, it's hard to say what punishment she would have deserved, but someone DID die from her actions. The person whose land they crashed into wasn't about to let it go out of empathy with the bereaved family.) I also remember seeing a cross and a string of flowers tied to a pole (I think near Burger King.) I always wondered at it.
The font took a bit to get used to, but I would honestly be interested in reading more about contemporary memorial culture.
October 20, 2016
A well researched scholarly study of the subject. One of the few that exist.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews