Power of Memory in Democratic Politics
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A01=P. J. Brendese
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Author_P. J. Brendese
Category=JPA
collective memory
democratic processes
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eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
freedom
history
memory
Mexico
political imagination
political power
South Africa
US race relations
Product details
- ISBN 9781580464239
- Weight: 534g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 Sep 2014
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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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.
