Memory, Trauma and World Politics: Reflections on the Relationship Between Past and Present

284 Pages·2006·1.22 MB·English

by  Duncan Bell (eds.)

Memory, Trauma and World Politics
Also by Duncan Bell
THE IDEA OF GREATER BRITAIN:Empire and the Future of World Order, 1860–1900
Edited by Duncan Bell
VICTORIAN VISIONS OF GLOBAL ORDER:Empire and International Relations
in Nineteenth Century British Political Thought
PESSIMISM, POWER, AND GLOBAL ETHICS:Variations on a Realist Theme
Memory, Trauma and
World Politics
Reflections on the Relationship
Between Past and Present
Edited by
Duncan Bell
Lecturer in International Relations
University of Cambridge
Editorial matter,selection and introduction © Duncan Bell 2006;
all remaining chapters © respective authors 2006
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-0-230-00656-0
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First published in 2006 by
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Memory,trauma and world politics :reflections on the relationship
between past and present / edited by Duncan Bell.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1.World politics—20th century.2.World politics—21st century.
3.Collective memory.I.Bell,Duncan S.A.,1976-
D445.M36 2006
327.1—dc22 2006046255
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06
The choice that we have is not between remembering and forgetting;
because forgetting can’t be done by an act of will, it is not some-
thing we can chose to do. The choice is between different ways of
remembering…Memories do not always bear fruit and may even
lead us astray. If we treat the past as holy, we exclude it from the
world of meaning and prevent it teaching lessons that might apply to
other times and places, to other agents of history. But we do just as
much damage through the opposite approach: making the past trivial
by likening present events to past ones too easily, trawling it for facile
solutions to current issues, betrays history, distorts the present, and
opens the door to injustice.
Tzvetan Todorov, Hope and Memory:
Lessons from the Twentieth Century(2003)
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Notes on Contributors x
1 Introduction: Memory, Trauma and World Politics 1
Duncan Bell
Part I
2 We Could Remember It for You Wholesale: Myths,
Monuments and the Constitution of National Memories 33
Jens Bartelson
3 Notes on the Memory Boom: War, Remembrance
and the Uses of the Past 54
Jay Winter
4 From Theodicy to Ressentiment: Trauma and
the Ages of Compensation 74
Jeffrey K. Olick and Chares Demetriou
Part II
5 Remembering Relationality: Trauma Time and Politics 99
Jenny Edkins
6 Bewitched by the Past: Social Memory, Trauma
and International Relations 116
K. M. Fierke
7 Mourning, Melancholia and Violence 135
Larry Ray
Part III
8 Trauma Culture: Remembering and Forgetting
in the New South Africa 157
Lynn Meskell
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viii Contents
9 Memorials to Injustice 176
Stephan Feuchtwang
10 Remembering and Forgetting the Korean War:
From Trauma to Reconciliation 195
Roland Bleiker and Young-Ju Hoang
11 Remembering to Forget/Forgetting to Remember 213
Maja Zehfuss
Notes 231
Index 271
Acknowledgements
There are various people and institutions that I would like to thank for
supporting this project. Tobie Whitman organized the excellent workshop
on ‘The Memory of Genocide in World Politics’ in Cambridge (2003),
out of which the idea for the book emerged. Casper Sylvest, Lynn
Meskell and Jeff Olick offered sage advice on planning the book. Jeff,
Casper, Richard Ned Lebow, Andrea Sangiovanni and Sarah Fine all
offered incisive comments on the introduction. I am very grateful to the
Master and Fellows of Christ’s College, Cambridge, for electing me to a
research fellowship – the college has provided a beautiful and stimulating
environment in which to work. The Centre of International Studies,
University of Cambridge, has likewise provided excellent practical and
moral support. Above all, I would like to thank the contributors to
this book for their interest in the project and their patience during its
completion.
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