Tag: Memory

Memory and Justice in a Postcolonial World

Memory is a crucial driver of justice in postcolonial contexts, mediating the identities, temporalities and power relations embedded in colonial hierarchies. It bridges past atrocities, present inequities and future possibilities, offering both diagnostic insight and emancipatory potential. While memory studies and postcolonial studies have flourished, the conceptual link between memory and postcolonialism remains underexplored. Memory’s diagnostic, performative and projective dimensions collectively enable societies to confront enduring colonial legacies, cultivate hope, and construct politically and ethically grounded visions of the future.

Documentary: Peñas Coloradas

“Peñas Coloradas: Memories carried by the river” is an emotional journey into the heart of the memories of a displaced community in Caquetá, Colombia. Through collective memory exercises, the documentary relives what it meant to build their village from scratch on the banks of the Caguan River, before their forced displacement by the Army in 2004. Although return is not their goal, these resilient voices demand their recognition as collective victims of the armed conflict and reflect on a future that honors their history and dignity. Beyond the pain, this work is a testimony of struggle for justice and the preservation of their community identity.

Can Europe come to terms with its colonial past?

Over the last few years, several European powers and actors have increasingly engaged with political acts of remembering colonial violence, wars, and crimes committed in Africa in their name. Among other examples, Berlin renamed some of its streets which were honouring colonial figures, French President Emmanuel Macron commissioned an official report on the memory of the colonisation and war in Algeria, and some British universities and cultural institutions returned looted Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. But can this truly lead to ‘coming to terms’ with its colonial past? Can reparations, restitutions, apologies, and other symbolic acts ‘fix’ the damage of decades of European colonialism? Who has a voice or who does not in these debates? These are the questions my students and I discussed in a seminar entitled ‘Can Europe Come to Terms with its Colonial Past in Africa?’ taught in Liberal Arts & Sciences at University College Freiburg in the Winter semester 2024/25. These questions were also at the heart of the zines they produced as a final assignment, which are presented in this intervention, showing how creative practices can be used by students to engage with difficult topics of colonial memory.

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