Overview

The 20th century has been scrred by political violence and genocide, reaching its extreme in the Holocaust. Yet, at the same time, the century has been marked by a growing committment to human rights. The volume highlights the importance of history - of socially processed memory - in resolving the wounds left by massive state-sponsored political violence and in preventing future episodes of violence. Here, the editors define and discuss popular historical memory; explore collective versus individual memory; and examine te uses and abuses of history and memory. The book also treats a wide variety of incidents of collective violence - from decades long genocide to short-lived massacres and presents case studies from Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia.

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9780842029810

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ANYONE INTERESTED IN HUMAN RIGHTS...WILL FIND THIS AN IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION.

How did nations and communities respond to the aftermath of genocide and collective violence in the twentieth century? How have nations sought to achieve 'reconciliation' with a legacy of state-sponsored terrorism, systematic torture and repression, massacres, mass graves, forced disappearances, and 'ethnic cleansing'? This broad-ranging collection of articles seeks to answer these questions by drawing on case studies from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe. A powerful introduction to the politics of history and the cultural history of social memory, this is an ideal reader for undergraduate and graduate courses on human rights, international law, social psychology, and world history, especially the complex history of historical construction and reconstruction of a violent 'past' as part of the present.--Loveman, Brian

Author Information

David E. Lorey is program officer for the U.S.-Latin American Relations Program at the Hewlett Foundation. William H. Beezley is one of the pioneers of the cultural history of Mexico and has authored and co-authored several books.

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