Implicated Subjects

Abstract

This chapter explores memory activism from the perspective of “implicated subjects.” Implicated subjects are those who enable, perpetuate, benefit from, or inherit histories of violence and structures of inequality (Rothberg 2019). Although the vocabulary of implication has not been central to the study of memory activism, prominent examples of scholarship in the field treat projects in which implicated subjects play crucial roles. We open with two foundational books on memory activism that involve examples of implication. We then offer examples from our own research: first, the social media activist project called “We are not Trayvon Martin” and, second, the mobilization of memory of the Japanese American Incarceration against the detention of migrants and refugees at the United States southern border. These examples demonstrate how significant activist projects involving social remembrance emerge from “implicated subjects.” Putting a focus explicitly on implicated subjects reveals that a sense of historical and political responsibility is a prominent driver of memory activism and that when memories of injustice combine with a sense of present-day implication a particularly powerful impetus to action can emerge. Finally, we note that a sense of implication not only motivates many memory activists but is also linked to activist goals.