Reimagining Narratives of Resistance: Memory Work in the London Tamil Diaspora

This article explores memory-making practice in a small section of the LondonTamil diaspora, the shaping and reshaping of memories of state crime andresistance, and the potential and challenges of this memory work in the contextof a globalized and criminalized justice struggle. The Tamil InformationCentre's “Tamils of Lanka: a Timeless Heritage” exhibition is discussed as anintervention into Tamil memory practices in London as a necessary, enliveningand hopeful departure from an increasingly dispirited reliance on streetprotest, a supplement to protest, political lobbying and accountability efforts,and a new space for community-based mourning rituals. Mobilizing the concept of“memory knots” (Stern 2010), this article explores the radical shift incommemorative practice in 2019 pioneered by TIC volunteers, relying oninterviews with exhibition organizers in their role as memory workers, andreflects on the potential of this public invitation to reimagine the past as oneof resistance and resilience. The latter part of this article explores thecontestations and contradictions that emerged in the exhibition organizingprocess; the damage wrought by prevailing terrorism discourses on communitymemory comes into view. I argue that the exhibition, as a process and aninvitation, signals a new appetite for historical excavation and a reimaginingof Tamil resistance.