EUROPE INSIGHT
Memory and democracy :
a complex relationship
Jenny Wüstenberg Professor of History and Memory Studies , Nottingham Trent University
In the past few years , the question of what societies should remember and how it matters has shifted squarely into the spotlight . In 2020 and 2021 , almost no day went by without front-page reports about statues being torn down or street names being changed .
Whether these transformations were driven by protestors or governments , they were always part of larger debates about what kinds of values are represented through cultural symbols connected to legacies of colonialism , racism , white power , dictatorial rule , patriarchy and more . Underpinning these discussions is the idea that what we decide to set in stone , what we commemorate in our public spaces , matters for how we are governed and how our societies are constituted at a deeper level . Civil society activists and policymakers – whether they are friends or foes of democracy – tend to assume that public memory “ does something ”: it either helps us to build more democratic , peaceful and reconciled societies or it can erect a barrier to doing so . However , scholars have recently argued that this assumption is not well-founded empirically ( Gensburger and Lefranc , 2020 ; Pisanty , 2021 ; David , 2020 ). After all , if remembering past instances of racist and antisemitic violence is so impactful , why do we still see so many racist and antisemitic attacks ? Similarly , why do conflicts keep flaring up after transitional justice processes ? While I will not wade into this discussion here , it is clear that the causal connection between public remembrance and various policy outcomes is not well evidenced . A first step in that direction needs to be a more systematic understanding of what a “ good ” – or democratic – memory actually means . This short article attempts to explain the different elements that I believe we need to consider in a conceptualisation of democratic memory . 1
1 . Please note that my reference point here is always public memory – made up of the existing and emerging memorial landscape , non-physical memorials such as anniversaries , but also significant public debates . In other words , public memory is always at least to some extent sanctioned by the state , although it may still be contested . While private and clandestine forms of remembering are highly significant , they complicate the operation of remembering and this discussion falls outside the scope of this article .
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Observing Memories Issue 7