20: Roadside Memorials

The association of writing with memorials to the dead dates back to Ancient Egypt. Tombs dating from before 3,000 B.C. include examples of hieroglyphic text. In our era, we are creating similar representations in the form of roadside memorials. The creation of these memorials has proliferated in recent years. What do they tell us about the representation of death in American culture, and how are they related to larger issues of literacy found in the culture?

Roadside memorials represent a unique narrative form. A tragic scene on the side of a highway is transformed into a venue for sharing details about the life of a loved one. In this society where we have sanitized death in hospitals and nursing homes, this new form of literacy allows the grief stricken to communicate their sorrow to the world. In doing so, the creators of these memorials have brought death, and the way we mourn, out of the closet, and into the mainstream thought of American life. There is not a large body of scholarly work on roadside memorials, although a few studies do provide some insight on this distinctly postmodern means of grieving.