Commemoration as conflict: space, memory, and identity in peace processes

Abstract

Commemoration as conflict: space, memory, and identity in peace processes, by Sara McDowell and Maire Braniff, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, vii + 209 pp., US$95.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-0-2302-7375-7 In Commemoration as conflict, Sara McDowell and Maire Braniff examine in detail how memory and identity influence peace-making processes. Bringing together literatures and theory from memory studies, cultural geography, and peace and conflict studies, McDowell and Braniff make a clear contribution that will be of interest to cultural geographers and memory scholars. The authors demonstrate the limits of remembering violence, conflict, and civil war through case studies of six societies that have undergone, are recovering from, or are in the midst of conflict. Through the concept of commemoration as conflict, McDowell and Braniff advance the scholarly conceptualization of commemorative practices through their argument that commemoration is, metaphorically, a two-edged sword. While many memory scholars have argued that remembrance processes have healing or cathartic value, McDowell and Braniff add to this a focus on the great potential of commemoration to undermine peace processes in divided societies. Their research shows that the various actors involved in societal or national conflict can employ commemoration as a form of symbolic violence as a surrogate for physical conflict. In line with other scholars' findings, though, the authors do point out that commemoration can play an important part in transitional justice, depending upon how far peace processes have advanced in a given conflict situation. McDowell and Braniff set the tone for their empirically rich book from the very start, presenting the reader with a preview of their expertise on the complexities of the Northern Ireland conflict and the ongoing efforts there to remember both victims and perpetrators of paramilitary violence. Their introduction goes on to summarize their theoretical contributions and outline the chapters that follow. The subsequent two chapters examine the relevant literatures on geographies of memory, which include a body of scholarship that should be relatively familiar to cultural geographers, and literature on the practice, implementation, and phases of peace processes that may not be as familiar to those outside the field of peace and conflict studies. Of particular interest is the authors' application of the work of Darby (2001), who argues in his Effects of violence on peace processes that four phases of peace processes--pre-negotiation, ceasefire, negotiation, and consolidation--are a continuum that can advance but also regress. McDowell and Braniff's evaluation of the effects of commemoration in their case studies draws upon the possibility that commemoration as symbolic violence can send a peace process backward along Darby's continuum. Following the literature exposition, McDowell and Braniff then turn to the case studies of Northern Ireland, Basque Country, Sri Lanka, Israel-Palestine, the former Yugoslavia, and post-Apartheid South Africa and then a concluding chapter. Each of the case study chapters includes a historical overview of the conflict in each country or region and a discussion of the status of the peace processes either as they historically occurred or as they are currently taking place. …