The Hebrew Bible is permeated with depictions of military conflicts that have profoundly shaped the way many think about war. Why does war occupy so much space in the Bible? In this book, Jacob ...Wright offers a fresh and fascinating response to this question: War pervades the Bible not because ancient Israel was governed by religious factors (such as 'holy war') or because this people, along with its neighbors in the ancient Near East, was especially bellicose. The reason is rather that the Bible is fundamentally a project of constructing a new national identity for Israel, one that can both transcend deep divisions within the population and withstand military conquest by imperial armies. Drawing on the intriguing interdisciplinary research on war commemoration, Wright shows how biblical authors, like the architects of national identities from more recent times, constructed a new and influential notion of peoplehood in direct relation to memories of war, both real and imagined. This book is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.
Places of Pain and Shame Logan, William; Reeves, Keir
2009, 20081205, 2008-12-05, Letnik:
3
eBook
Places of Pain and Shame is a cross-cultural study of sites that represent painful and/or shameful episodes in a national or local community’s history, and the ways that government agencies, heritage ...professionals and the communities themselves seek to remember, commemorate and conserve these cases – or, conversely, choose to forget them.
Such episodes and locations include: massacre and genocide sites, places related to prisoners of war, civil and political prisons, and places of ‘benevolent’ internment such as leper colonies and lunatic asylums. These sites bring shame upon us now for the cruelty and futility of the events that occurred within them and the ideologies they represented. They are however increasingly being regarded as ‘heritage sites’, a far cry from the view of heritage that prevailed a generation ago when we were almost entirely concerned with protecting the great and beautiful creations of the past, reflections of the creative genius of humanity rather than the reverse – the destructive and cruel side of history.
Why has this shift occurred, and what implications does it have for professionals practicing in the heritage field? In what ways is this a ‘difficult’ heritage to deal with? This volume brings together academics and practitioners to explore these questions, covering not only some of the practical matters, but also the theoretical and conceptual issues, and uses case studies of historic places, museums and memorials from around the globe, including the United States, Northern Ireland, Poland, South Africa, China, Japan, Taiwan, Cambodia, Indonesia, Timor and Australia.
1. Remembering Places of Pain and Shame 2. Let the Dead be Remembered: Interpretation of the Nanjing Massacre Memorial 3. The Hiroshima "Peace Memorial": Transforming Legacy, Memories and Landscapes 4. Auschwitz-Birkenau: The Challenges of Heritage Management Following the Cold War 5. "Dig a Hole and Bury the Past in It": Reconciliation and the Heritage of Genocide in Cambodia 6. The Myall Creek Memorial: History, Identity and Reconciliation 7. Cowra Japanese War Cemetry 8. A Cave in Taiwan: Comfort Women's Memories and the Local Identity 9. Postcolonial Shame: Heritage and the Forgotten Pain of Civilian Women Internees in Java 10. Difficult Memories: The Independence Struggle as Cultural Heritage in East Timor 11. Port Arthur, Norfolk Island, New Caledonia: Convict Prison Islands in the Antipodes 12. Hoa Lo Museum, Hanoi: Changing Attitudes to a Vietnamese Place of Pain and Shame 13. Places of Pain as Tools for Social Justice in the "New" South Africa: Black Heritage Preservation in the "Rainbow" Nation's Townships 14. Negotiating Places of Pain in Post-Conflict Northern Ireland: Debating the Future of the Maze/Prison/Long Kesh 15. Beauty Springing from the Breast of Pain . "No Less than a Palace: Kew Asylum, its Planned Surrounds, and its Present-Day Residents 17. Between the Hostel and the Detention Centre: Possible Trajectories of Migrant Pain and Shame in Australia
"William Logan and Keir Reeves are to be congratulated for putting together an outstanding collection of essays that critically evaluate the potentials and pitfalls of different sites of 'difficult heritage.' ... Importantly, these papers consistently strike the right tone between rigorous intellectual inquiry and respectful dialogue. The authors all seem acutely aware that these sites should not just be academic playthings but are vital to people’s sense of personhood, history, and justice." - Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Current Anthropology , Volume 51, Number 3, June 2010
“This is an interesting and courageous book that explores a challenging and fascinating subject through many significant political and cultural sites. It makes an important contribution to, what is at least in Australia, a modest body of literature that critically engages with and examines heritage theory and practice and connects it with the constant work of communities and nations in trying to imagine, define and cohere identity.” - Peter Romey and Sharon Veale
This article delves into the religious conflict that transpired in Ambon from 1999 to 2004, with a specific focus on elucidating the formation of collective memory as a pivotal mechanism for ...fostering post-conflict reconciliation. Employing a methodology amalgamating literature review and in-depth interviews, this research scrutinizes the intricate dynamics of the conflict, delineating the roles played by both Muslim and Christian communities, not only as victims but also as perpetrators. The principal findings underscore the shared responsibility of both groups in instigating the conflict, resulting in egregious acts such as assaults, homicides, and property destruction. The article accentuates the imperative of mutual acknowledgment regarding each community's role in the conflict as an indispensable stride towards reconciliation. It posits that an accurate and all-encompassing collective memory of the conflict serves as a catalyst for communities to critically assess their religious practices and fosters a climate of receptivity to broader religious understandings. The research underscores the significance of cultivating a nuanced collective memory in upholding peace and harmony within a diverse post-conflict society.
If nationalism is the assertion of legitimacy for a nation and its effectiveness as a political entity, why do many nations emphasize images of their own defeat in understanding their history? Using ...Israel, Serbia, France, Greece and Ghana as examples, the author argues that this phenomenon exposes the ambivalence that lurks behind the passions nationalism evokes. Symbols of defeat glorify a nation's ancient past, while reenacting the destruction of that past as a necessary step in constructing a functioning modern society. As a result, these symbols often assume a foundational role in national mythology. Threats to such symbols are perceived as threats to the nation itself and consequently are met with desperation difficult for outsiders to understand.
On agonistic memory Bull, Anna Cento; Hansen, Hans Lauge
Memory studies,
10/2016, Letnik:
9, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Building on Mouffe’s critique of cosmopolitanism, this article argues that a cosmopolitan mode of remembering, far from having superseded the antagonistic mode associated with ‘first modernity’ in ...the European context, has proved unable to prevent the rise of, and is being increasingly challenged by, new antagonistic collective memories constructed by populist neo-nationalist movements. This article outlines the main defining characteristics of a third ‘agonistic’ mode of remembering, which is both reflexive and dialogic, yet also relies upon politicized representations of past conflicts, acknowledging civic and political passions as well as individual and collective agency.
Trauma y memoria cultural. Hispanoamérica y España Spiller, Roland, Mahlke, Kirsten and Reinstädler, Janett (editores); en colaboración con PérezHernández, Reineier Berlín/Boston, De Gruyter, 2020, ...632 páginas, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110420760
A review of: Pioneras de la Arquitectura Ecuatoriana, virtual exhibition at https://www. pionerasarquitecturaec.com/exposición-virtual, launched 20 November, 2020, curated by María José Freire and ...Verónica Rosero. The review examines the Ecuadorian exhibition, which recovers memories that have long remained in the personal and intimate sphere and exposes them to the social sphere, a fundamentally political act.