Who chooses to remember? Diaspora participation in memorialization initiatives

Abstract

ABSTRACTDiaspora actors demonstrate their ability to play a role in a variety of political and social processes in their homelands, including transitional justice. Transnational diaspora memorialization initiatives have become embedded and sustained within different contexts. This paper examines how the causal mechanism of coordination affects memorialization initiatives. It compares memorialization efforts in two localities in Bosnia and Herzegovina with different levels of coordination between diaspora, returnees, and local institutional actors. Centralized coordination with the help of a homeland institution enriches existing memory narratives and aims to forward transitional justice. Memorialization and commemorative practices initiated by diaspora without homeland institutional backing can lead to coordination among a more diverse set of actors, ultimately fostering new, alternative, and more inclusive memory narratives.