Remembering Independence explores the commemoration and remembrance of independence following the great wave of decolonisation after the Second World War. Drawing on case studies from Africa, Asia, and with reference to the Pacific, the authors find that remembering independence was, and still is, highly dynamic. From flag-raising moments to the present day, the transfer of authority from colonial rule to independent nation-states has served as a powerful mnemonic focal point.
The book discusses how remembering independence has changed over time, and how it has connected to particular contemporary purposes and competing political visions. A common thread across the diverse case studies is the persistence of a flexible idea of ‘independence’ in state and non-state constructions. Independence was and is both a moment in time and a project, a carrier of hopes and ideals of social justice and freedom, but also of disappointments and frustrated futures.
This richly illustrated volume draws attention to the broad range of media employed in remembering independence, ranging from museums and monuments to textual, oral and ritual formats of commemorative events, such as national days. The book examines the making and unmaking of national heroes as well as recent struggles over the commemoration of broader categories of martyrs, victims or even anti-heroes. It analyses how state and non-state actors construct a national mnemonic landscape, and how these actors have deployed different spatial and temporal lenses to connect stories of independence to their causes. Drawing on combined insights from history and anthropology, this book will be essential reading for all students of the history of empire, decolonisation, and post-colonial politics of memory.
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vi | |
| Preface |
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xi | |
| Introduction |
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1 | (12) |
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1 Remembering independence: concepts and media |
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13 | (27) |
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2 Independence Days: remembering the past, contesting the present, constructing the future |
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40 | (37) |
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3 National heroes: making and unmaking the remembered |
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77 | (40) |
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4 Martyrs, victims and anti-heroes: revisiting the national gallery |
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117 | (39) |
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5 Regional aspirations and legitimising centres: constructing a national mnemonic landscape |
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156 | (30) |
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6 Adjusting the clock: temporal flexibility in remembering independence |
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186 | (31) |
| Final reflections |
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217 | (10) |
| Appendix: brief portraits of case study countries |
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227 | (6) |
| Index |
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233 | |
Carola Lentz is senior research professor of anthropology at Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz (Germany). Since November 2020, she serves as president of the Goethe-Institut. Her research focuses on West Africa, and questions of ethnicity and nationalism, colonial and post-colonial history, land rights, the emergence of a middle class, and the politics of memory. Her book Land, Mobility and Belonging in West Africa (2013) received the Melville Herskovits Prize by the African Studies Association of the US. She is a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
David Lowe is professor of contemporary history at Deakin University, Geelong (Australia). He is a historian of modern international relations, including decolonisation, the Cold War, and the rise of foreign aid. His book, Remembering the Cold War (2013), with Tony Joel, was the first in the Routledge Remembering the Modern World series. He is a member of the Academy for the Social Sciences in Australia.
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