Memories and Violence

From post-apartheid South Africa to post-Pinochet Chile, there are various states and communities which all face the challenge of remembering the violence in their pasts whilst attempting to move on from these experiences. Memories and Violence investigates this challenge, examining how these societies deal with traumatic pasts and their consequences. It explores the traces left by the experiences of violence or human rights violations - such as those of World War II or the military dictatorship in Uruguay - and what languages of memory are made available as a result. It analyses the ways in which the meanings of the past are intertwined with culturally and socially informed ideas of victimhood, truth, justice, culpability, guilt and historical causality, as well as looking at the often uncomfortable realities of the relationship between tourism and remembrance. Dealing with examples from Africa and Latin America, this volume will appeal to researchers of the historical memory of violence, and those involved in the study of trauma, genocide and transitional justice.