Kurzfassung

My research project is concerned with different aspects of the production of collective memory and public culture in the interest of remaking the past in Rwandan nation-building. Furthermore, I am concerned with how “ordinary” people recollect violent and painful experiences and how they re-imagine the past and the present. I will focus on material and visual representations of the past, on the annual commemoration ceremonies, on local forms of commemoration, on interviews with relevant...My research project is concerned with different aspects of the production of collective memory and public culture in the interest of remaking the past in Rwandan nation-building. Furthermore, I am concerned with how “ordinary” people recollect violent and painful experiences and how they re-imagine the past and the present. I will focus on material and visual representations of the past, on the annual commemoration ceremonies, on local forms of commemoration, on interviews with relevant actors in the public memory project and on personal narratives of “ordinary” Rwandans. Comparing my research findings with other cases in Africa and beyond will help me to address more general issues of collective/public memory and personal recollections and how both are articulated, of contradictory readings of public representations of the past and of competing narratives. » weiterlesen» einklappen