Defying state amnesia and memorywars

Non-sectarian memory activism in Beirut and Belfast city centres

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4876702
AutoresJ Nagle (0000-0001-8836-9942, University of Aberdeen, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen21
Número3
Páginas380-401
Fecha de publicación2020-03-23
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2018.1497191
OpenAlexW2884275261
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas7
Referencias citadas38

In divided societies that endure intrastate violence, ethnonational groups harness memory to support claims for territorial sovereignty and victimhood. Yet, in peace processes, rather than seek to deal with the legacy of the past, the state often enacts a culture of amnesia to support the logic of political transition, while at the communal level the rival ethnic groups proliferate commemorative practices as part of memorywars. These twin forces – amnesia and ethnicized memory – are also often embedded into post-conflict urban reconstruction, particularly the city centres of the municipal capitals. In this paper, I explore how non-sectarian movements imprint memory into city centre space to challenge the paradoxical forces of forgetting and ethnic communal remembrance. Towards this, I explore the memorywork of non-sectarian groups whose politics transcend established ethnic cleavages, such as trade unionists, movements resisting the privatization of public space and activists mobilizing to protect public services. In this paper I draw on a range of theoretical frameworks, including reflective nostalgia and ghosts and hauntings. Using fieldwork data, I look at non-sectarian memorywork in Beirut and Belfast city centres. These city centres generate contrasting uses and meanings for the local population

Amnesia · Ethnic group · Forgetting · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Politics of memory · Population · Public space · Sociology · Sovereignty · State (computer science · Engineering · Gender Studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Middle East Politics and Society · Psychology