Panel 109: Contestations over Memory and Nationhood: Comparative Perspectives from East and Southern Africa

“Who owns the birth of the nation?” (Werbner 1998) is still an engaging question in much of Africa. This multi-disciplinary panel will make a comparative discussion of memory and the creation of new national identities in East and Southern Africa.

In the postcolony's struggle to forge a sense of nationhood and reconcile citizens following conflict, myriad contestations have arisen over remembering and forgetting, and the subject, form and aesthetics of commemorative initiatives. Contests are entangled with the struggle to construct a unifying nationalist narrative, which can privilege certain "memories" or "histories" at the expense of others. The heritage of settler colonialism may add a specific transnational dimension.

The notion of agency is central in these contestations. Powerful claims to have "fought for freedom" are closely connected with the creation of hierarchies of nationalist belonging. In some countries (e.g. Kenya, Namibia, Zimbabwe) the official declaration of "heroes" has become a contested issue, which privileges those who fought armed battles. Almost everywhere, struggles over the authenticity of nationalism have drawn on registers such as regionalism, ethnicity, or exile (v. internal resistance) histories.

The questions we seek to address include: what are the implications of Africans'  engagement with local and international human rights NGOs in order to construct particular memories, identities and historical narratives? How are contested memories played out on the national as well as transnational fields? What do the different actors in the public memory arena choose to memorialise, and with what aim and audience in mind?