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Narrating atrocity: Genocide memorials, dark tourism, and the politics of memory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 August 2019

Sarah Kenyon Lischer Open the ORCID record for Sarah Kenyon Lischer [Opens in a new window]
Sarah Kenyon Lischer*
Affiliation:
Department of Politics and International Affairs, Wake Forest University
*
*Corresponding author. Email: lischesk@wfu.edu
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Abstract

After a genocide, leaders compete to fill the postwar power vacuum and establish their preferred story of the past. Memorialisation, including through building memorials, provides a cornerstone of political power. The dominant public narrative determines the plotline; it labels victims and perpetrators, interprets history, assigns meaning to suffering, and sets the post-atrocity political agenda. Therefore, ownership of the past, in terms of the public account, is deeply contested. Although many factors affect the emergence of a dominant atrocity narrative, this article highlights the role of international interactions with genocide memorials, particularly how Western visitors, funders, and consultants influence the government's narrative. Western consumption of memorials often reinforces aspects of dark tourism that dehumanise victims and discourage adequate context for the uninformed visitor. Funding and consultation provided by Western states and organisations – while offering distinct benefits – tends to encourage a homogenised atrocity narrative, which reflects the values of the global human rights regime and existing standards of memorial design rather than privileging the local particularities of the atrocity experience. As shown in the cases of Rwanda, Cambodia, and Bosnia, Western involvement in public memory projects often strengthens the power of government narratives, which control the present by controlling the past.

Keywords

GenocidePublic MemoryDark TourismAtrocity NarrativeMemorialMemorialisationRwandaCambodiaBosniaSrebrenica
Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 45 , Special Issue 5: Special Issue on Populism , December 2019 , pp. 805 - 827
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 2019 

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References

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89 Human Rights Watch, ‘Leave None to Tell the Story’ (March 1999), available at: {https://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/Geno15-8-03.htm}.

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93 The Ntarama memorial has evolved over the years and no longer permits photography. The various changes demonstrate the fluidity of the narrative and the individualised experience of each visitor.

94 Harvard University's ‘Through a Glass Darkly: Rwandan Genocide Memorials 1994–Present’ project offers an enormous trove of documents and over seven thousand images, with a particular focus on unofficial and informal memorials. Jens Meierhenrich, principal investigator. See {http://maps.cga.harvard.edu/rwanda/home.html}.

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108 Much of this work occurred in partnership with the British organisation Aegis Trust. See{https://www.aegistrust.org/}.

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119 Author's observation, 7 June 2012.

120 Clinton had earlier reaped scorn for his ‘apology’ to Rwandans for US inaction during the genocide; the visit was so short that the pilot of Air Force One didn't even turn off the engine at the Kigali airport.

121 Article II of the ‘Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide’ defines genocide as the attempt to destroy ‘in whole or in part an national, ethnical, religious, or racial group’. Treaty available at: {https://treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%2078/volume-78-i-1021-english.pdf}. For a discussion of the legal arguments about whether Srebrenica should be defined as a genocide, see Mulaj, Klejda, ‘Genocide and the ending of war: Meaning, remembrance and denial in Srebrenica, Bosnia’, Crime, Law and Social Change; Dordrecht, 68:1–2 (September 2017), pp. 133–5Google Scholar.

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124 Author's observation, Potoçari memorial, June 2012.

125 ICMP (International Commission on Missing Persons), ‘ICMP: The Facts Surrounding Srebrenica Are Not Disputable’, ICMP Press Release (August 2018), available at: {https://www.icmp.int/press-releases/icmp-the-facts-surrounding-srebrenica-are-not-disputable/}.

126 Author's observation, Potoçari memorial, June 2012.

127 See the official memorial website for updated construction plans for the Dutch batalion museum, available at: {http://www.potocarimc.org/index.php/component/k2/item/115-nastavak-projekta-izgradnje-ii-faze-memorijalnog-centra}.

128 The United States donated US $1 million.

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130 Ibid., pp. 138–9.

131 Maja Zivanovic, ‘Euro MPs criticise Serbia for Srebrenica genocide denial’, Balkan Insight (28 November 2018), available at: {http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-warned-about-srebrenica-genocide-denial-11-29-2018/}.

132 Toby Porter, ‘The partiality of humanitarian assistance – Kosovo in comparative perspective’, The Journal of Humanitarian Assistance (17 June 2000), available at: {https://sites.tufts.edu/jha/archives/150}.

133 Williams, Memorial Museums, p. 111.

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