Jason James

Associate Professor of Sociology and Anthropology University of Mary Washington

  • Fredericksburg VA

Jason James' research comes out of a fascination and dismay at the power of collective identities with nations, ethnic groups, and "races."

Contact

University of Mary Washington

View more experts managed by University of Mary Washington

Spotlight

1 min

Confederate monuments: How should America preserve and remember its history?

August 12 marks one year since a deadly march in Charlottesville, Virginia, when white nationalists showed up to protest the city's plans to remove a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general. And one year later, the debates across America, particularly the South, continue about what should be done with Civil War-era monuments in town squares, public parks and other areas of high visibility. Most of the monuments were put in place decades after the end of the Civil War when whites in the South were reclaiming their dominant position socially and economically. So it’s not surprising that Confederate monuments are politically loaded. They were from the beginning, but the society in which the monuments find themselves has changed. What should be done with these monuments? Are they worthy of preservation? Should they be on display in a museum or discarded and forgotten? The pendulum is swinging very hard both ways on what to do, and that’s where the experts from the University of Mary Washington can help. Jason James, associate professor of sociology and anthropology, is a scholar of cultural memory who teaches a unique course called Practices of Memory, which focuses on the ways societies remember and forget the past through monuments and memorials, museums, film, and other media. This includes the debates over Confederate monuments and the commemoration of slavery. Jason is available to speak with media regarding this topic. Simply click on his icon to arrange an interview. Source:

Jason James

Media

Social

Biography

Jason James received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. His research interests include nationalism, ethnicity, collective memory, socialism and post-socialism, and Germany. He teaches courses in collective memory, the anthropology of Europe, urban anthropology, and tourism. His book, "Preservation and National Belonging in Eastern Germany: Heritage Fetishism and Redeeming Germanness," was published by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2012.

James' research comes out of a combination of fascination and dismay at the power of collective identities with nations, ethnic groups, and "races" — and how those identities are formed and mobilized in response to perceived Others and the dangers they are thought to pose. He is also interested in the social, cultural, and political dimensions of transportation.

Areas of Expertise

Political Science
Anthropology
Sociology
German Studies
Nationalism
Tourism
Ethnicity

Education

University of California, San Diego

Ph.D.

Anthropology

2001

Boston University

B.A.

Philosophy and Political Theory

1989

Media Appearances

Radio Show Features UMW Anthropology Professor

UMW News  online

2012-11-30

Jason James, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Mary Washington, discusses the cultural struggles that persist in post-Nazi Germany during an interview scheduled to air on the “With Good Reason” public radio program ...

View More

Jason James Publishes Chapter in Volume on East German Cities

EagleEye  online

2015-01-13

Jason James, Associate Professor of Anthropology, contributed a chapter titled “Restoration and Redemption: Defending Kultur and Heimat in Eisenach’s Cityscape” to a new collected volume on East German cities ...

View More

Articles

Preservation and National Belonging in Eastern Germany: Heritage Fetishism and Redeeming Germanness

Palgrave Macmillan

2012-10-01

Drawing on cultural anthropology and cultural studies, this book sheds new light on the everyday politics of heritage and memory by illuminating local, everyday engagements with Germanness through heritage fetishism, claims to hometown belonging, and the performative appropriation of cultural property.

View more

Retrieving a Redemptive Past: Protecting Heritage and Heimat in East German Cities

German Politics & Society

2009-09-01

In the years following unification, East German cityscapes have been subject to fierce contention because historic preservation and urban renewal have served as a local allegory of national redemption. Using conflicts over preservation and renewal in the city of Eisenach as a case study, I argue that historic cityscapes have served as the focus of many East Germans' efforts to grapple with the problem of Germanness because they address the past as a material cultural legacy to be retrieved and protected, rather than as a past to be worked through.

View more

Undoing Trauma: Reconstructing the Church of Our Lady in Dresden

Ethos

2006-06-01

This article is an examination of the recent reconstruction of the Church of Our Lady (Frauenkirche) in Dresden, Germany, in relation to a desire for normalcy, which in this case finds expression in a fantasy of resurrection. The reconstruction of a monumental edifice framed as a victim of World War II and socialism both depends on and enacts the fantasy that historical loss can be undone.

View more

Show All +