The new monograph “Peace and the Politics of Memory” explores memory politics and its impact on the quality of peace in societies transitioning from a violent past. Co-authored by Johanna Mannergren, TraCe Prinicpal Investigator Susanne Buckley-Zistel, former TraCe fellow Annika Björkdahl, Stefanie Kappler and Timothy Williams, the book is situated in the literature of critical Peace Research and Memory Studies. The authors advance the idea that the quality of peace is affected by the extent to which memories are entangled and employ an original theoretical framework to study mnemonic formations through the interplay between sites, agency, narratives and events. Acknowledging the entanglement of memory in mnemonic formations, the monograph renders visible the fluidity of memory-making, and the political frictions between competing memories. It provides rich empirical case studies that analyse and compare mnemonic formations in Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rwanda, South Africa and Cambodia. Through this comparative investigation the book assesses how and why memory politics contributes to the construction of a just peace or the perpetuation of conflict, or nuances in between.
A digital book launch event takes place on December 3, 2024.
The book is available in paperback and as an open access eBook.