Silences, visibility and agency: ethnicity, class and gender in public memorialization

ELIZABETH JELIN

Identities in transition. Challenges for transitional justice in divided societies

Cambridge University Press

Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2011; p. 187 - 213

Based on case studies in Argentina and Peru, the paper analyzes the processes through which silenced or hidden ethnic, cultural, or gender dimensions come to light in the course of the unfolding of violent conflicts and in their aftermaths. Their visibility, however, seldom if ever results in demands for specific memorialization policies. At times, and especially in cases of marginalized communities, external actors may foster such policies of recognition of victimhood (in monuments, memorials, museums, and the like). Such initiatives may clash with the way communities deal with their recent past, since communities tend to follow their usual practices in handling conflict and pain in their struggles for improvement of their life conditions and in their search for empowerment. The way memory emerges and is expressed is highly specific, and no general or universal policy should be applied.