Historical Memory in Africa : : Dealing with the Past, Reaching for the Future in an Intercultural Context / / ed. by Mamadou Diawara, Bernard Lategan, Jörn Rüsen.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Bisanswa, Justin,; Diawara, Mamadou,; Ghosh, Ranjan,; Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla,; Grundlingh, Albert,; Harries, Patrick,; Jewsiewicki, Bogumil,; Joubert, Annekie,; Kor, Eva Mozes,; Lategan, Bernard,; Macamo, Elísio,; Rüsen, Jörn,; Sang-Jin, Han,
• HerausgeberIn: Diawara, Mamadou,; Lategan, Bernard,; Rüsen, Jörn,
• Place / Publishing House: New York; , Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2010]; ©2010
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Series: Making Sense of History ; 12
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (264 p.)

A vast amount of literature—both scholarly and popular—now exists on the subject of historical memory, but there is remarkably little available that is written from an African perspective. This volume explores the inner dynamics of memory in all its variations, from its most destructive and divisive impact to its remarkable potential to heal and reconcile. It addresses issues on both the conceptual and the pragmatic level and its theoretical observations and reflections are informed by first-hand experiences and comparative reflections from a German, Indian, and Korean perspective. A new insight is the importance of the future dimension of memory and hence the need to develop the ability to ‘remember with the future in mind’. Historical memory in an African context provides a rich kaleidoscope of the diverse experiences and perspectives—and yet there are recurring themes and similar conclusions, connecting it to a global dialogue to which it has much to contribute, but from which it also has much to receive.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Part I FROM AN AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE -- CHAPTER 1 Social Theory and Making Sense of Africa -- CHAPTER 2 History by Word of Mouth: Linking Past and Present through Oral Memory -- CHAPTER 3 Historical Memory and Representation of New Nations in Africa -- CHAPTER 4 Memory, History and Historiography of Congo-Zaïre -- CHAPTER 5 Remembering the Past, Reaching for the Future Aspects of African Historical Memory in an International Context -- CHAPTER 6 Remembering Conflict: The Centenary Commemoration of the South African War of 1899–1902 as a Case Study -- CHAPTER 7 From Public History to Private Enterprise: The Politics of Memory in the New South Africa -- CHAPTER 8 Remembering with the Future in Mind -- Part II FROM AN INTERCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE -- CHAPTER 9 Holocaust Experience and Historical Sense Generation from a German Perspective -- CHAPTER 10 Ayodhya, Memory, Myth Futurizing the Past from an Indian Perspective -- CHAPTER 11 Human Suffering and Forgiveness: A Dialogue with Kim Dae-jung from an East Asian Perspective -- Part III TEXTS FROM THE PRAXIS OF MEMORY, TRAUMA, FORGIVENESS AND HEALING -- CHAPTER 12 Remorse, Forgiveness and Rehumanization: Stories from South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission -- CHAPTER 13 Healing from Auschwitz and Mengele’s Experiments -- Notes on Contributors -- Index