부산대학교 도서관

In 2011, a monument in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, was unveiled by the city’s mayor, Melis Myrzakmatov, on the first anniversary of violence there between the Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities. However, the monument does not record what those events were and there is no explicit mention of the conflict in the inscription, which is written in Kyrgyz, Russian and English, but not Uzbek. This monument and the way it implicitly presents the events it does (not) commemorate is a testament to the multiple ways in which public space can be used to capture and construct memories by those who present official memories and those who view the resulting artefacts. This chapter explores how comparisons of conflict over past events in Northern Ireland with other cases can generate new perspectives. However, such exploration requires critical engagement with the difficulties of drawing meaningful comparison. The key argument is that while Northern Ireland is undoubtedly entangled in arguments about the legacy of the past and its meaning for the future, the level of ‘noise’ in the debate reminds us that others elsewhere are very limited in their ability to contest the use of different platforms to shape the past into a certain story. The examination of the way in which memories of the Osh conflict have been formed will involve focus on the physical monuments to it, principally the peace memorial mentioned above as well as a statue known as The Tears of the Mothers.
This book is an edited collection that examines various aspects of the role and nature of collective memory and remembrance of the conflict in Northern Ireland. It sets out to examine diverse constructions, articulations and re-articulations of (often competing) collective memories and their relevance for the process of identity formation, political struggles, ‘culture wars’, the formation of politics and debates on dealing with the past in Northern Ireland today. It also makes a wider contribution to debates on the conceptualisation of social memory, its impact on social change and policy-making in Northern Ireland and other transitional societies. It further considers issues surrounding methodological approaches to the study of collective memory. The book focuses on how, what and why people recall particular events and the impact this has on the present and the future. Memory is active and continually fashioned. How these memories are constructed and reconstructed, interpreted and reinterpreted to become part of now acts as a determinant for what is ahead. Unlike historical analysis memory offers a way to discuss the future and, in turn, how we might live better.