8 . Memory is regularly called upon to provide an antidote to undemocratic movements , but although we ’ ve seen a major increase in memory studies , we ’ re also witnessing rising levels of political authoritarianism and a new outbreak of far right-wing sentiment that jeopardises democratic systems in different countries . Can memory serve to strengthen democracy ? If it can , why haven ’ t we been able to use it to do this ? And how might it still be used to slow the expansion and growth of the far right ?
United States even if they arrived here generations after abolition . If it means being aware of how we are implicated in these continuities and working to foster a radical form of equality and justice in the present . Memory alone cannot do that – it must inspire a practice of activist engagement . But such a practice also cannot thrive without memory and historical knowledge .
This is a really important question for those of us engaged in this field out of a commitment to social justice and a democratic future . We have to acknowledge that memory serves right-wing authoritarian causes as much as it does progressive ones . Authoritarian regimes often invoke , or create , “ memories ” of perceived injuries in the past to shape group identities and to mobilize populations around shared “ wounds .”
But , yes , memory can indeed strengthen democracy . It can do so if it means coming to terms with and attempting to repair past injustice . If it means acknowledging how past injustices benefit some populations in the present – as , for example , the economies of enslavement benefit whites in the
8 Women Mobilizing Memory Book Cover
Black Lives Matter Protest | Johnny Silverloud CC . 9
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