Trees as Dialogue: Negotiating Boundaries with the Anne Frank Sapling Project

• Authors: Stella M. Čapek
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

My qualitative research paper focuses on the Anne Frank sapling installation at the Clinton Presidential Museum and Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. Saplings grafted from the tree that grew outside Anne Frank’s window in Amsterdam while she wrote her famous diary are provided by the Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect to organizations that will link the tree to dialogues about past and present social justice issues. Building on Thomas Gieryn’s recent work on “truth-spots,” I explore the sapling installation as a possible “truth-spot,” and reflect on what kind of truth is supported there. From a symbolic interactionist perspective, I consider the sapling as a boundary-crossing entity that, together with other elements of the installation, stimulates reflection and inclusive dialogue, and fosters hope without shunning complexity. I discuss the sapling’s ecological needs and material agency, since it is not a passive recipient of human meanings and orchestrations. I also comment on the changing role of museum installations and exhibit space in the context of social justice.

Keywords

EN

Truth-Spots; Trees; Social Justice; Museums; Anne Frank

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Łódzki. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
• Journal: Qualitative Sociology Review
• Year: 2020
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 28-47

Dates

published

2020-08-07

Contributors

author

Stella M. Čapek

• Hendrix College, USA

• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1544-2915

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Identifiers

DOI

10.18778/1733-8077.16.3.03