Politics and Remembrance

Politics and Remembrance
Author: Bruce James Smith
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2014-07-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1400855039

This inquiry into the nature of political action concerns what the author describes as the most precarious and uncertain of human endeavors." Focusing on specific themes in Machiavelli, Burke, and Tocqueville, Bruce Smith identifies political action as a distinct mode of human activity. Originally published in 1985. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The Politics of Ritual and Remembrance

The Politics of Ritual and Remembrance
Author: Grant Evans
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 244
Release: 1998-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9780824820541

Communist revolutions in this century have suppressed existing ritual and symbolic structures and invented new ones. Armed with new flags, new national celebrations, or new school textbooks, they have attempted to reconstruct social memory. This fascinating work of political anthropology examines the case of Laos from the heady days of the 1975 revolution to the more sober "post-socialist" present. Grant Evans traces the attempt at ritual and symbolic change in Laos, and the recent reemergence of older and deeper cultural structures, while identifying what has perhaps been irretrievably lost. In this challenging study of the cultural consequences of failed total revolution, Evans reaches some striking conclusions concerning the nature of social memory, cultural possibilities foregone, and the need for cultural continuity.

A European Memory?

A European Memory?
Author: Małgorzata Pakier
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 373
Release: 2012
Genre: History
ISBN: 0857454307

An examination of the role of history and memory is vital in order to better understand why the grand design of a United Europe--with a common foreign policy and market yet enough diversity to allow for cultural and social differences--was overwhelmingly turned down by its citizens. The authors argue that this rejection of the European constitution was to a certain extent a challenge to the current historical grounding used for further integration and further demonstrates the lack of understanding by European bureaucrats of the historical complexity and divisiveness of Europe's past. A critical European history is therefore urgently needed to confront and re-imagine Europe, not as a harmonious continent but as the outcome of violent and bloody conflicts, both within Europe as well as with its Others. As the authors show, these dark shadows of Europe's past must be integrated, and the fact that memories of Europe are contested must be accepted if any new attempts at a United Europe are to be successful.

Agency in Transnational Memory Politics

Agency in Transnational Memory Politics
Author: Jenny Wüstenberg
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2020-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1789206952

The dynamics of transnational memory play a central role in modern politics, from postsocialist efforts at transitional justice to the global legacies of colonialism. Yet, the relatively young subfield of transnational memory studies remains underdeveloped and fractured across numerous disciplines, even as nascent, boundary-crossing theories on topics such as multi-vocal, traveling, or entangled remembrance suggest new ways of negotiating difficult political questions. This volume brings together theoretical and practical considerations to provide transnational memory scholars with an interdisciplinary investigation into agency—the “who” and the “how” of cross-border commemoration that motivates activists and fascinates observers.

The Politics of Irish Memory

The Politics of Irish Memory
Author: E. Pine
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2010-11-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0230295312

Irish culture is obsessed with the past, and this book asks why and how. In an innovative reading of Irish culture since 1980, Emilie Pine provides a new analysis of theatre, film, television, memoir and art, and interrogates the anti-nostalgia that characterizes so much of contemporary Irish culture.

Memory, Trauma and World Politics

Memory, Trauma and World Politics
Author: D. Bell
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2006-10-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 023062748X

Memory, Trauma and World Politics focuses on the effect that the memory of traumatic episodes (especially war and genocide) has on shaping contemporary political identities. Theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich, this book is an incisive treatment of the ways in which the study of social memory can inform global politics analysis.

The Politics of Historical Memory and Commemoration in Africa

The Politics of Historical Memory and Commemoration in Africa
Author: Cassandra Mark-Thiesen
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2021-12-06
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110655497

Essays in Memory of Jan-Georg Deutsch The volume observes some of the principles that drove Prof. Jan-Georg Deutsch's research: highlighting present-day politics for the way they shape historical remembrance, learning from people on the ground through fieldwork and oral history, and bringing various parts of the African continent into discussion with one another. From Cape Town to Charlottesville, many societies are grappling with historical consciousness and the production of public memory. In particular, how and why societies remember and forget, what should serve as symbols of collective memory, and whether there exists space for multiple memory cultures are questions being vigorously debated once again. These discussions present particular challenges not only to official memory bound to ideological constructions of nationhood but also to the teaching of history and its links to social justice movements. The volume re-centres Africa and African history in memory studies, with each chapter drawing parallels to comparable cases in Africa and the world. An underlying assumption is that what can be learned from the politics of historical memory in Africa will have relevance for contemporary politics globally and for understanding how memories can be mobilised for political ends.

Remembrance, History, and Justice

Remembrance, History, and Justice
Author: Vladimir Tismaneanu
Publisher: Central European University Press
Total Pages: 517
Release: 2015-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 963386092X

The twentieth century has left behind a painful and complicated legacy of massive trauma, monstrous crimes, radical social engineering, creating collective/individual guilt syndromes that were often specters haunting the process of democratization in the various societies that have emerged out of these profoundly de-structuring contexts, such as Germany, Romania, Russia and others.

The Politics of War Commemoration in the UK and Russia

The Politics of War Commemoration in the UK and Russia
Author: Nataliya Danilova
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2016-01-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1137395710

This book analyses contemporary war commemoration in Britain and Russia. Focusing on the political aspects of remembrance, it explores the instrumentalisation of memory for managing civil-military relations and garnering public support for conflicts. It explains the nexus between remembrance, militarisation and nationalism in modern societies.

The Convolutions of Historical Politics

The Convolutions of Historical Politics
Author: Alekse? I. Miller
Publisher: Central European University Press
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2012-01-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 615522515X

Thirteen essays by scholars from seven countries discuss the political use and abuse of history in the recent decades with particular focus on Central and Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia as case studies), but also includes articles on Germany, Japan and Turkey, which provide a much needed comparative dimension. The main focus is on new conditions of political utilization of history in post-communist context, which is characterized by lack of censorship and political pluralism. The phenomenon of history politics became extremely visible in Central and Eastern Europe in the past decade, and remains central for political agenda in many countries of the regions. Each essay is a case study contributing to the knowledge about collective memory and political use of history, offering a new theoretical twist. The studies look at actors (from political parties to individual historians), institutions (museums, Institutes of National remembrance, special political commissions), methods, political rationale and motivations behind this phenomenon.