Living History: Encountering the Memory and the History of the Heirs of Slavery
Editor: Ana Lucia Araujo
Date Of Publication: Jul 2009
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-0998-6
Isbn: 1-4438-0998-5
This book focuses on the several forms of reconstructing the slave past in the present. The recent emergence of the memory of slavery allows those who are or who claim to be descendents of slaves to legitimize their demand for recognition and for reparations for past wrongs. Some reparation claims encompass financial compensation, but very often they express the need for memorialization through public commemoration, museums, and monuments. In some contexts, presentification of the slave past has helped governments and the descendants of former masters and slave merchants to formulate public apologies. For some, expressing repentance is not only a means to erase guilt but also a way to gain political prestige.
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