Memory Before Violence

In the new working paper, TraCe researchers from various fields reflect on “Memory Before Violence.” Initiating an interdisciplinary dialogue about the temporalities of violence and memory, the authors focus on different case studies across the globe. 

The working paper suggests turning around the temporal perspective on the memory-violence nexus. It asks how collective memory unfolds its agency not only after, but also before acts of political violence. What memory dynamics are at play when it comes to producing violence in the future—or when it comes to making future violence more (or less) likely to occur? The aim of this paper is to address the temporal intricacies of the violence-memory nexus, paying particularly close attention to the distinctive dynamics unfolding in specific cases. In six case studies, the authors address “Memory Before Violence”—in Brazil, in Canada, in Uganda and Kenya, in Russia and Ukraine, and in Germany.

This working paper ist a joint publication by Susanne Buckley-Zistel (Peace and Conflict Studies, Philipps University Marburg), Kaya de Wolff (Media Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt), Astrid Erll (Memory Studies, Goethe University Frankfurt), Sybille Frank (Urban Sociology, Technical University of Darmstadt), Nicolai Hannig (Modern History, Technical University of Darmstadt), Sabine Mannitz (Social Anthropology, PRIF Frankfurt), Mariel Reiss (Political Sciences, Philipps University Marburg), Jona Schwerer (Urban Sociology, Technical University of Darmstadt), Sara-Luise Spittler (Modern History, Technical University of Darmstadt), and Monika Wingender (Slavic Studies/Linguistics, Justus Liebig University Giessen).

All authors are part of Research Area 3: Interpretations of Political Violence.

The working paper emerged from the Panel “Memory Before Violence” at the Memory Studies Association Conference in Newcastle 2023.

The working paper is available for download (PDF).