Session: #484

Content:

In the aftermath of violence, the identification, excavation, and analysis of sites at which such acts were carried out can be key to ensuring justice and a sense of closure for the families of those who perished. Once located, the process of excavation can evoke strong reactions and at times polemical debate. These places, be they concentration camps, sites of massacre, or incarceration, can become iconic sites of commemoration and often accrue memorials or become 'sacralized' sites of memory. However, many recent conflicts are not waged by opposing militaries, but rather by paramilitary or guerilla combatants, or by state actors against their own populations. During conflicts, alliances between various groups may shift. A consensus on who to commemorate is not always forthcoming. Competitive commemoration, desecration, or willful neglect may immediately follow a conflict. In turn, the sites of 'pain' of the ‘Other’ may be ‘orphaned’ on the ‘wrong’ side of a border or the ‘fault line of memory’. What new discursive spaces do these sites open? Can one ensure that their heritagization acknowledges their respective historical and political specificities without reify divides? What can be learned from non-state sanctioned ‘grassroots’ activities at these sites (without romanticizing them)? Can such sites contribute to sustainable peace?
The discovery of older historic sites of violence often result in headline grabbing articles. Does the heritagization of historic sites of violence necessarily entail voyeurism and ‘dark tourism’, or does it contribute to a valid exploration of violence? Can historic sites of violence be understood through the same lenses as their more contemporary counterparts? How and why does their excavation and heritagization differ from those encountered for more recent examples?
Themes may include, but are not limited to:
- archaeology of sites of violence;
- management of the material remains of violence;
- museology, memorialization, and heritage interpretation of violence.

Session: #484

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