Event Title
Opening Keynote: "The Duty of Memory, the Right to Forget: Historical Memory Beyond the Stalemates"
Abstract
Can collective memory be considered a moral duty? Are there situations in which it is preferable not to know what happened years ago? These are not only the fundamental dilemmas that inform the heated debates surrounding the representation, public presence, and political manipulation of Spain’s recent past (from the Second Republic to the Transition after the death of Franco). They also now constitute central questions world-wide, with implications that impact international law, philosophy, and politics, among other areas. This talk seeks to examine the current situation in Spain from an international and comparative framework. Its objectives are twofold. First, to clarify the presuppositions that underlie the seemingly irreconcilable stances of the advocates of memory, on the one hand, and the skeptics of memory, on the other. And second, to identify a possible common ground or compromise: conceiving of memory not as a duty but as a right.
Presenter Bio(s)
Sebastiaan Faber is Professor of Hispanic Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio. In addition, he is the Chair of the Board of Governors of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and the editor of the ALBA newsletter. His book Exile and Cultural Hegemony: Spanish Intellectuals in Mexico (1939-1975) [Nashville: Vanderbilt Univ. Press, 2003] and his continued investigations into representations of the Spanish Civil War and historical memory in Post-Franco Spain have helped define the field of contemporary Spanish cultural studies in relation to Spain’s war-torn past.
Location
Amherst College, Fayerweather, Pruyne Lecture Hall
Start Date
13-10-2011 4:30 PM
End Date
13-10-2011 6:00 PM
Opening Keynote: "The Duty of Memory, the Right to Forget: Historical Memory Beyond the Stalemates"
Amherst College, Fayerweather, Pruyne Lecture Hall
Can collective memory be considered a moral duty? Are there situations in which it is preferable not to know what happened years ago? These are not only the fundamental dilemmas that inform the heated debates surrounding the representation, public presence, and political manipulation of Spain’s recent past (from the Second Republic to the Transition after the death of Franco). They also now constitute central questions world-wide, with implications that impact international law, philosophy, and politics, among other areas. This talk seeks to examine the current situation in Spain from an international and comparative framework. Its objectives are twofold. First, to clarify the presuppositions that underlie the seemingly irreconcilable stances of the advocates of memory, on the one hand, and the skeptics of memory, on the other. And second, to identify a possible common ground or compromise: conceiving of memory not as a duty but as a right.