{"id":301,"date":"2017-03-27T20:34:55","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T20:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/?page_id=301"},"modified":"2018-03-01T01:19:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T01:19:25","slug":"301-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/301-2\/","title":{"rendered":"2016 Shakespeare and Our Times Conference"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cHistory, Mystery and Fantasy\u201d: Public Memory of the Early Modern Moment in the New World<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Elizabethan Gardens of Manteo, North Carolina, illustrate the lasting power of public memorials on our historical narratives; built in the 1950-60s, the Gardens strive to simulate a sixteenth century garden. The Gardens\u2019 website announces the objective of the space: \u201cOur garden was created for your enjoyment, and as a living memorial to the time when Sir Walter Raleigh\u2019s lost colonists lived in this very place over 400 years ago.\u201d This paper discusses the Gardens as an artifact which displays the ways in which gendered narratives of the past are constructed and preserved. From the faux sixteenth century gatehouse, to the gift shop packed with images of Elizabeth Tudor and \u201cfeminine\u201d artifacts, to the elaborate statue of the queen at the center of a rose garden, a romanticized notion of the early modern world dominates this location, representing a lifestyle more typical of England than early colonial experiences, as well obscuring the class-based nature of such a space. \u00a0The placement of Elizabeth\u2019s statue within the confines of a garden reinforces the concept of women in private spaces, situating the formidable queen in a space advertised as specifically for entertainment, rather than reflecting the political authority represented by Elizabeth Tudor\u2019s person. The Gardens offers a miscellany of antique statuary, including an imagined and sexualized version of Virginia Dare, should she have lived to adulthood. Thus, the space represents the past as it never was, offering a charming experience of women in gardens, devoid of their lived experiences, perpetuating an idealized notion of the early modern experience in the colonies for tourists\u2019 uncritical consumption. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Carol Mattingly describes the significant ways in which spaces shape our perception of the past and attitudes in the present, stating: \u201cCollective memory is anchored not only in historical narratives but also in material structures that shape and support collective memory\u2013creating identity for future generations, determining how we view the past and, therefore, how we see the future, and naming who is important and who is worthy of being recognized and honored\u201d (Mattingly 292). By observing physical structures dedicated to preserving a version of the past, we can disrupt historical narratives that have become naturalized.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.odu.edu\/partnerships\/community\/conferences\/shakespeare-400-yearsafterapublicevent\/conference\">Conference Website<\/a><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">[gview file=&#8221;https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/479\/2017\/03\/History-Mystery-Fantasy-Shakespeare-400.pdf&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cHistory, Mystery and Fantasy\u201d: Public Memory of the Early Modern Moment in the New World The Elizabethan Gardens of Manteo, North Carolina, illustrate the lasting power of public memorials on our historical narratives; built in the 1950-60s, the Gardens strive to simulate a sixteenth century garden. The Gardens\u2019 website announces the objective of the space: [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":455,"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions\/455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fs.wp.odu.edu\/mmize\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}