Event-making the past: Commemorations as social movement catalysts

Abstract

While shared narratives of the past have long been considered functional in terms of legitimising, coordinating and directing movement imaginary and action, it is not until recently that studies of memory and social movements have begun to interact systematically. Furthermore, these studies have treated mnemonic practices from a cognitive perspective rather than an affective, relational stance. This article analyses the mass commemoration of mafia victims that took place in Bologna on 21 March 2015 using an affective lens. It shifts the focus from memory as an identity-shaping, community-building force to memory as a mobilising force that intensifies and fuels heterogeneous and multidirectional movements such as the anti-mafia. In particular, it highlights the suggestive force of objects, discourses and bodies that together catalyse the crowd, drawing from ethnographic material. It concludes that what is ritualised, and thus important for the movement’s direction, is the way the past is presented and lived through the event. It suggests that the study of social movements and memory can benefit from the affective turn in memory studies.