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UN genocide commemoration, transnational scenes of mourning and the global project of learning from atrocity
Author(s) -
Skillington Tracey
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the british journal of sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.826
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1468-4446
pISSN - 0007-1315
DOI - 10.1111/1468-4446.12029
Subject(s) - genocide , the holocaust , humanity , sociology , grief , crimes against humanity , criminology , history , law , war crime , psychology , political science , international law , psychotherapist
This paper offers a critical analytic reconstruction of some of the main symbolic properties of annual UN Holocaust and R wandan genocide commemorations since 2005. Applying a discourse‐historical approach ( W odak and M eyer 2010), it retraces how themes of guilt, responsibility, evil and redemption are woven together across annual commemorative performances in the hope of stabilizing shared patterns of cultural translation of the significance of these atrocities to globally dispersed communities. UN commemorative discourse characteristically links memories of Holocaust and R wandan trauma in a ‘chain of communication’ with those of other episodes of brutality (e.g., C ambodia, B osnia and D arfur) chiefly to convey the continuity of human barbarity across time and endorse certain presuppositions regarding the fate of a fallen humanity in this more ‘post‐secular’ age. As scenes of mourning, UN commemorations unite participating international delegations in their expressions of grief for the victims of ‘preventable tragedies’ in the past but also, it must be said, their uncertainty regarding new horrors likely to occur in the future. The duty to remember is reiterated continuously as both a mark of respect to those who have already perished and as a warning of atrocities yet to unfold. This paper explores how the historical constancy of violence is interpreted by the UN through a detailed critical analysis of its recently inaugurated ‘remembrance through education’ programme aimed at a transnational collective learning from atrocity .