Rhetoric & Public Affairs Mar 2018

“A Spirit That Can Never Be Told”: Commemorative Agency and the Texas A&M University Bonfire Memorial

Adam J. Gaffey ; Jennifer L. Jones Barbour

Abstract

Abstract On November 18, 1999, Texas A&M University (TAMU) experienced profound tragedy when the famed Aggie Bonfire collapsed, killing 12 students and injuring 27 others. This essay examines the rhetorical dynamics of the TAMU Bonfire Memorial and explores how it navigates the tension created when a constitutive symbol is implicated in a moment of tragedy. Specifically, we use this case to explore how memorials help shape perceptions of victim agency in commemorative form. As we argue, the memorial taps into resonant modes of public reasoning—including temporal metaphors, Christian theology, and campus tradition—to imply the tragic outcome of the 1999 collapse had cause beyond human or institutional control. Our analysis of the Bonfire Memorial illustrates the importance of commemorative agency and, in particular, how eliding victim agency can limit epideictic encounters that might foster a sense of present and future engagement on unreconciled issues.

Journal
Rhetoric & Public Affairs
Published
2018-03-01
DOI
10.14321/rhetpublaffa.21.1.0075
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical theory multimodality

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Butterworth (2019)
    George W. Bush as the “Man in the Arena”: Baseball, Public Memory, and the Rhet…
    Rhetoric & Public Affairs

Cites in this index (0)

No references match articles in this index.

Also cites 3 works outside this index ↓
  1. (2007)
    “The Texas Aggie Bonfire: A Conservative Reading of Regional Narratives, Traditional Prac…
    Annals of the Association of American Geographers  ↗
  2. (1998)
    “What Is Agency?”
    American Journal of Sociology  ↗
  3. (1991)
    “Public Memorializing in Postmodernity: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial as Prototype,”
    Quarterly Journal of Speech  ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 3 View in citation network →

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