The future was better in the present

: an exploration of non-linear memory practice

Abstract

Transitional justice processes have long emphasized the importance of creating spaces for individual truth-telling, or for the sharing of individual perspectives and stories. These official processes of truth-telling are expected to occur over a fixed period and offer clear deliverables meant to indicate that society has healed and moved on from a contentious past. This, or so the argument goes, allows a new state or political regime to be established. This linear approach to time in memory work limits democratic practice. A recent turning point in the field of transitional justice has introduced a more holistic approach to societal change called transformative justice. Transformative justice focuses on radical change and building new, more inclusive societies following a conflict or divide. This is a shift in understanding from the sharing of individual stories as a means of healing from the past to creating spaces for pluralistic historical truths to build more inclusive futures. Using an emergent methodology, I designed to capture nuance, participatory reflexive ethnography, I conducted an anthropological study of Cold War and German reunification era memory culture in Germany. My data includes dialogue-style interviews with former political prisoners that experienced incarceration in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), site visits to museums and memorials, and a walking ethnography of Berlin. By framing these memorialization processes within the emerging field of transformative justice, they can be understood as future-building tools. In this imaginal politics of memorialization, the hoped-for future is constructed through ongoing discussion over the meaning of a society’s past. This is an anarchist approach to memorialization in the vein of David Graeber’s understanding of anarchy as direct democracy (2004). Understanding the role memory work plays in society’s understanding of its past, present, and future provides insight into how we can democratize society more broadly by practicing a democracy-from-below, which I call direct participatory democracy.

Date of Award	Feb 2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Maire Braniff (Supervisor) & Brandon Hamber (Supervisor)