Offers an examination of ancient, modern, and contemporary political theories and practices in order to develop a more expansive way of conceptualizing memory, how political power influences the presence of the past, and memory'songoing impact on democratic horizons. George Orwell famously argued that those who control the past control the future, and those who control the present control the past. In this study of the relationship between democracy and memory, P. J. Brendese examines Orwell'sinsight, revealing how political power affects what is available to be remembered, who is allowed to recall the past, and when and where past events can be commemorated. Engaging a diverse panoply of thinkers that includes Sophocles, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison, Brendese considers the role of disavowed memory and the politics of collective memory in democratic processes throughout history. Among the cases treatedare democracy in ancient Athens, South Africa's effort to transition from apartheid via its landmark Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Mexico's struggle to fortify democratic accountability after the "dirty war," and the unresolved legacy of slavery in US race relations. The Power of Memory in Democratic Politics draws on these national histories to develop a theory of memory that accounts for the ways the past lives on in unconscious, habituated practices, shaping the possibilities of freedom, action, and political imagination. P. J. Brendese is assistant professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.
"Brendese's book is distinguished by its engagement with the politics of racial memory in the United States. . . . [It] helps us to see the double import of attending to racial injustice and the legacy of slavery: that is, that it is both important and pressing in its own right, and also that our failure to address the persistence of racial injustice (via segregated memory) undermines any attempt to govern ourselves democratically. For these reasons, Brendese's book deserves to be widely read." - THEORY & EVENT
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"Brendese's book is distinguished by its engagement with the politics of racial memory in the United States. . . . [It] helps us to see the double import of attending to racial injustice and the legacy of slavery: that is, that it is both important and pressing in its own right, and also that our failure to address the persistence of racial injustice (via segregated memory) undermines any attempt to govern ourselves democratically. For these reasons, Brendese's book deserves to be widely read." - THEORY & EVENT
Формат: Скан PDf
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