HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Adam, H. Search for Related Content

Divided Memories: Confronting the Crimes of Previous Regimes

The Politics of Memory

Memory is not an objective fact, some stored data that can be downloaded or accumulated for later use. What is remembered and how events are recalled depends on social conditions. Interests shape individual as well as collective memory. This is why memory is a contingent social construction. As Ian Buruma has pointed out: "Memory is not the same as history and memorializing is different from writing history."² If the two are lumped together, the distinction between fact and fiction, truth and false-hood, is lost. Factual events must be distinguished from their interpretation. Especially in divided societies,...