The Performance of Memory As Transitional Justice

Based on case studies spanning time and geography - from the Spanish to the Nigerian civil wars, to government repression in Argentina and genocidal policies in Guatemala and Rwanda and, finally, to forced population removal in Australia and Israel - this collection examines some of the strategies used to publicly engage with traumatic memory work. The essays offer a kaleidoscopic perspective of new approaches to show how such memory work contributes to transitional justice efforts, demonstrating the complexities of achieving justice and reconciliation through the open expression of shared memories of violence. (Series: Transitional Justice - Vol. 19) [Subject: Transitional Justice, Criminal Justice, Human Rights]

S. Elizabeth Bird is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Humanities Institute at the University of South Florida. Her research has focused on media studies, and she has published four books and over 70 articles in that area. Her current work focuses on issues of collective memory and heritage, with a particular focus on Nigeria. She has been a Visiting Fellow at the Annenberg School for Communications, University of Pennsylvania, and serves on several journal editorial boards. She was the 2009 winner of the Communication Research as Open Field Award, presented by the International Communication Association, and was inducted as a Fellow of ICA in May 2014. Most recently, she was awarded an American Council for Learned Societies Collaborative Fellowship (with Fraser Ottanelli, History, University of South Florida), to complete research and writing for a book on the history and memory of the 1967 Asaba Massacre, which occurred during the Nigerian Civil War.

Fraser M. Ottanelli is Professor of History at the University of South Florida. His areas of specialisation are ethnic, radical and labour history and comparative migration. He has authored and co-authored three books along with numerous articles and essays. He is currently completing a book entitled “Migration, Radicalism and the Shaping of Ethnic Identity”.