15.07.2024 New Book: Peace and the Politics of Memory

By Johanna Mannergren, Annika Björkdahl, Susanne Buckley-Zistel, Stefanie Kappler and Timothy Williams

Description
This important book provides new understandings of how the politics of memory impacts peace in societies transitioning from a violent past. It does so by developing a theoretical approach focusing on the intersection of sites, agency, narratives, and events in memory-making. Drawing on rich empirical studies of mnemonic formations in Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, South Africa and Cambodia, the book speaks to a broad audience. The in-depth, cross-case analysis shows that inclusivity, pluralism, and dignity in memory politics are key to the construction of a just peace. The book contributes crucial and timely knowledge about societies that grapple with the painful legacies of the past and advances the study of memory and peace.

Reviews
'This book offers much needed SANE framework to examine the complex relationship between memory and peace in societies that are in transition from war to peace. The authors draw from their various rich research experiences to provide powerful comparative analysis of five complex that are experiencing the processes of memorialization and the search for durable peace. The book makes an innovative contribution to interdisciplinary debates on memory and peace at a moment when many societies in our world are negotiating memories of their pasts while searching for durable peace.' David Mwambari, Associate Professor KU Leuven University, Belgium and author of Navigating Cultural Memory, Commemoration and Narrative in Postgenocide Rwanda, Oxford University Press 2023.

Please find the open access edition here.