David Harvey's Basilica Scare De Coeur In Paris

The American Civil War (1961-1865) was a major transformable event in American history. By the end of the war, the question of slavery was resolved with the passage of the Thirteenth, the Fourteenth and the Fifteenth Amendments. Although, rights were guaranteed for African Americans after the war, the constitutional amendments were no longer practically enforced following the Reconstruction Period. Throughout this period from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, the white political elites in the South regained their power by constructing Confederate monuments and memorials to promote a certain historical narrative. This was evident with the actions of Confederate organizations who promoted the lost cause narrative. This is defined

In particular, this essay will explore how the conservative royalist faction in France was able to construct a basilica that symbolized their victorious space over the French Commune. After examining Harvey’s top-down approach of monument building, I will focus on the political elites in the South. One Confederate organization was responsible for the increase of Confederate memorialization and advocate for lost cause narrative after the war was the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). This was prevalent in the empirical case study that the UDC’S supported and sponsored various Confederate statues on Monument Avenue in Richmond Virginia. The Confederate statues on Monument Avenue demonstrates the white southern political elite’s power to impose their authority and white supremacy by placing Confederate monuments at a sacred space, specifically in the center of the former Confederate

Similar to Emilie Durkheim and Maurice Halbwachs, Harvey was interested in the tensions of the French society following the humiliating defeat of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Throughout Harvey’s research, the author was interested not only in the political ramifications, but also looking at class conflict over the Basilica. Specifically, the division between the Communards (socialist radicals) located heavily in the Paris working class and the conservative royalist faction, the Cult of the Sacred Heart. The Cult of the Sacred Heart was a sect within the Catholic church advocating for repentance to Christ and mysticism (Harvey 1979, 364). Moreover, the Cult of the Sacred Heart was closely connected to the nobility of the Ancien Regime. As a consequence, the Catholic sect acts as an opposition towards the advancement of the French Revolution and the progressive ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity (Harvey 1979, 365). Following the outcome of the Franco Prussian War, the French Second Empire collapsed, further exacerbating the already tensions between the French Communards in Paris (suburbs) and the Conservative Royalist faction located predominately in rural France (Harvey 1979, 368). Once peace negotiations were finalized with the Prussians, the city of Paris was in