Memory for the Design of Possible Alternative Futures

• In Event: Collective Memory: Conflict, New Media, and Community Agency

Abstract

In order to flee the despair brought upon by the examination of history—whether in an official or a genealogical sense—one must be aware of the existence of multiple histories and be specially sensitive to those that come from the most unconsidered of places. Local experiences of global discourses challenge them in particular ways, as people come together to deal with pain, trauma, poverty, war or displacement. Already the concept of “insurgent citizenship” developed by James Holston, signals towards the variety of forms that emerge when we approach this other histories as a source of inspiration for a different social imagination. In this presentation, I will argue that collective memory is a site of special interest for the discovery of what Holston calls possible alternative futures. Furthermore, Memory can work to counter-hegemonic narratives and display ongoing processes of social organization that indicate what possible alternative (different from utopian) futures can be like. In this context, I will consider the role of experts and explore different positions that range from listening carefully for existing patterns to developing appropriate methods for the amplification of these possibilities.

Author

• Claudia Grisales-Bohórquez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign