Start Date
12-1-2012 3:30 PM
End Date
12-1-2012 5:00 PM
Description
In the post holocaust era, there has emerged an academic tradition amongst peace scholars that affirms an intimate connection between memory and the spectre of violence. However, there remains an air of ambiguity over the role of memory, whether socially or collectively constructed, in the course of social change. In light of this thematic conundrum, this paper will argue that memory can function as a moral agent of social change, depending on how it is construed in the process of resistance. Accordingly, by using the Civil Rights Movement as a central case study, it will attempt to show how the constructive use of memory can strengthen the struggle for justice and further appeal to the conscience of the oppressor. In this regard, the Civil Rights movement embodies a constructive use of memory insofar as collective memory was not used to incite hatred or dehumanise the oppressor, as is often the case with other violent revolutions, but rather as a platform to further the cause of oppressed, and as a reason for urgent, and radical change of the status quo. Furthermore by submerging the collective memory of the African American experience into a larger framework of American history, the Civil Rights Movement was able to anchor their demand for freedom and dignity on the US constitution. In the famous words in of King, “I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.” At the heart of this discourse is the theme of reconciliation embodied in the constructive use of memory in the process of social change. This paper will also briefly introduce ‘Ndubuisi’, an African (Igbo) philosophy of the respect for human life, which constitutes a part of nonviolent resistance and an essential part of my doctoral inquiry. This paper will draw from the vast body of literature on the Civil Rights movement, through a critical and comparative lens.
To Remember Rightly: Memory as an Instrument of Nonviolent Resistance
In the post holocaust era, there has emerged an academic tradition amongst peace scholars that affirms an intimate connection between memory and the spectre of violence. However, there remains an air of ambiguity over the role of memory, whether socially or collectively constructed, in the course of social change. In light of this thematic conundrum, this paper will argue that memory can function as a moral agent of social change, depending on how it is construed in the process of resistance. Accordingly, by using the Civil Rights Movement as a central case study, it will attempt to show how the constructive use of memory can strengthen the struggle for justice and further appeal to the conscience of the oppressor. In this regard, the Civil Rights movement embodies a constructive use of memory insofar as collective memory was not used to incite hatred or dehumanise the oppressor, as is often the case with other violent revolutions, but rather as a platform to further the cause of oppressed, and as a reason for urgent, and radical change of the status quo. Furthermore by submerging the collective memory of the African American experience into a larger framework of American history, the Civil Rights Movement was able to anchor their demand for freedom and dignity on the US constitution. In the famous words in of King, “I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.” At the heart of this discourse is the theme of reconciliation embodied in the constructive use of memory in the process of social change. This paper will also briefly introduce ‘Ndubuisi’, an African (Igbo) philosophy of the respect for human life, which constitutes a part of nonviolent resistance and an essential part of my doctoral inquiry. This paper will draw from the vast body of literature on the Civil Rights movement, through a critical and comparative lens.