Kendall R. Phillips, G. Mitchell Reyes, eds. Global Memoryscapes: Contesting Remembrance in a Transnational Age. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2011. 203 pp. $26.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8173-5676-7; ISBN 978-0-8173-8569-9; ISBN 978-0-8173-1743-0.

Reviewed by Duygu Gul (York University)
Published on H-Memory (July, 2012)
Commissioned by Catherine Baker (University of Hull)

Recently, there has been a growing skepticism toward the nation-state as the fundamental paradigm of collective memory. Global and transnational memory practices have, as a result, become a very popular theme among memory scholars.[1] In contrast to the assumptions of fixity, homogeneity or boundedness within the nation-state framework, many scholars have come to analyze memory as it travels, moves, and transgresses national boundaries. Global Memoryscapes: Contesting Remembrance in a Transnational Age contributes to this burgeoning literature by looking at the encounters between memories and global forces.

The collection consists of eight chapters plus an introductory chapter. In the introduction, the editors Kendall R. Philips and G. Mitchell Reyes argue that it is crucial to analyze memories at the intersection of local, national, and global levels. They aim to bring together theories of globalization and public memory and for this purpose they refer to Arjun Appadurai's schema of "scapes." In Modernity at Large, Appadurai identifies five dimensions of global cultural flows which are of a "complex, overlapping, disjunctive" nature: ethnoscapes, mediascapes, technoscapes, financescapes, and ideoscapes.[2] Adopting Appadurai's perspective, Philips and Reyes suggest to add another "scape" to this list, "the global memoryscape" (p. 13). This refers to all the multidirectional ways in which local and national memory practices interact with global dynamics.

In chapter 1, Urvashi Batalia presents an expressive account of Bir Bahadur's journey to his home village in Pakistan. Bir Bahadur is an Indian man who had to leave his home due to the violence of the partition in 1947. Years later, in 2000, he embarked on a journey back to his home village. The author, Batalia, provides a poignant story of this journey and Bir Bahadur's memories of the past. 

Chapters 2, 3, and 4 explore how local and national memories have been reconfigured in the aftermath of an important global event, the fall of the USSR. In Chapter 2, Ekaterina Haskins discusses the project to rebuild the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in postcommunist Russia. Focusing on the changing symbolic power of the cathedral as a site of memory, she argues that memory plays a key role in the reconstitution of Russian national identity. Likewise, in chapter 3, Christina Lavrence investigates how the dissolution of the USSR has resonated in Serbia. Focusing on the commemoration of Youth Day in 2005, she contends that the newly emerging nostalgia for the socialist era gives the Serbs a sense of direction. Significantly, she asks whether this nostalgia can pave the way for a more critical engagement with the past in Serbia. In chapter 4, Margaret Lindauer turns her gaze to the Czech Republic, another postcommunist country. She provides a non-chronological account of contested memories revolving around the Mayrau Mining Museum. For her, this museum is a liminal space torn between memories of the former miners, postcommunist transnational politics, and contemporary art displays.

Starting with chapter 5, the focus of the analysis begins to shift. For instance, in chapter 5, Cynthia Cervantes examines the memories of the conflict between the Americans and the Japanese in World War II. She looks at the controversy caused by the Japanese internment camp memorial project at Tule Lake in California and argues that this memorial can help foster a sense of belonging, especially for future generations. In chapter 6, Katherine Mack offers an insightful and stimulating account of how local memories can challenge global discourses. She asserts that the Winnie Mandela hearing of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission gave rise to contestations over the memories of the apartheid era. Moreover, she adds that Winnie Mandela's memories unsettled liberal assumptions of morality and individual responsibility held by the transnational human rights movement. In chapter 7, Kristin Sorensen relevantly asks how memories of the Chilean past are articulated and mediated through the media. At the intersection of the national and global, she believes, new media technologies and practices have opened up a space for acts of resistance against the legacy of Augusto Pinochet. Finally, in chapter 8, Zeynep Turan looks at the objects of legacy held by two expelled groups, those who were displaced due to the Armenian genocide in 1915 and the Greek-Turkish population exchange in 1923. She maintains that these objects have played a crucial role in the construction of collective identity in the diasporas, especially by creating a sense of continuity between and across generations.

As a whole, this edited collection presents "snapshots," as Philips and Reyes put it, of global memoryscapes (p. 3). All the articles effectively address, one way or another, the questions and issues raised by Philips and Reyes in the introduction. For instance, while chapters 2, 3, and 4 ask how local and national memories are being reformulated in the light of global forces, chapter 6 looks at how these memories might also challenge global discourses. Chapter 7 delves into the movement of memories through the media, while chapter 8 reveals how memories are displaced and carried to diasporic contexts. The editors successfully reveal the common threads among the articles and bring them together under the overarching theme of global memoryscapes.

Global Memoryscapes is furthermore a timely contribution to theories of memory in the context of globalization and transnationalism. Following Philips and Reyes, the contributors recognize the role of local and national dynamics in the construction of public memories. Yet they also look at how this role has changed with the intensified pace of flows, movements, and interactions at the global level. In addition, the contributors reveal the link between memory practices and power relations, at the intersection, of course, of local, national, and global scales. They draw attention to the conflicting interests and stakes involved in remembering and forgetting the past. This emphasis on the contested character of memory is another strength of this volume.

Nevertheless, despite its strengths, Global Memoryscapes fails to address some significant questions. First of all, the notion of global memoryscape remains fuzzy and needs further clarification. Part of the problem stems from Philips and Reyes's determination to present "snapshots" of global memoryscapes, rather than "a single, coherent theory of a global memoryscape" (p. 3). The editors' hesitance to come up with a coherent theory is also reflected in the way the collection is structured. While Philips and Reyes introduce and discuss the notion of global memoryscapes, the contributors do not directly engage with it, except in some brief notes. Unfortunately, this creates the impression that the eight chapters are there to support the introduction with plentiful empirical data without necessarily contributing to the theoretical discussion, and this weakens the overall strength of the volume.

Additionally, Philips and Reyes do not discuss how global memoryscapes are situated within the broader historical, political, and economic context of globalization and transnationalism. For instance, although they constantly refer to global forces, they do not specify what these forces are. They also claim that global memoryscapes are distinct from, yet still interrelated with, the five scapes defined by Appadura; however, they fail to reveal what such interrelations might be. For instance, except for the chapter by Mack, there is no adequate discussion of how global and transnational memory practices are linked to neoliberal capitalism or to the shifting global power relations. This inattention to the wider context is the main weakness of the collection.

Overall, Global Memoryscapes is a brave and powerful contribution to the newly emerging literature on global and transnational dimensions of memory practices. The notion of "global memoryscape" is promising, yet it still needs further refinement. As a whole, this collection has much to offer to students and scholars of memory studies, anthropology, sociology, and rhetoric and communication studies. It will be especially useful for those who are interested in theories of globalization and transnationalism.

Notes

[1]. See Daniel Levy and Natan Sznaider, The Holocaust and Memory in the Global Age (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2006); Michael Rothberg, Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009); Yifat Gutman, Adam D. Brown, and Amy Sodaro, eds., Memory and the Future: Transnational Politics, Ethics and Society (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010); Julia Creet and Andreas Kitzmann, eds., Memory and Migration: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Memory Studies (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011); Astrid Erll, "Travelling Memory," Parallax 17, no. 4 (2011): 4–18; Susannah Radstone, "What Place Is This? Transcultural Memory and the Locations of Memory Studies," Parallax 17, no. 4 (2011): 109–123; Michael Rothberg and Yasemin Yildiz, "Memory Citizenship: Migrant Archives of Holocaust Remembrance in Contemporary Germany," Parallax 17, no. 4 (2011): 32–48; and the dossier in Journal of Aesthetics and Culture 3 (2011), http://www.aestheticsandculture.net/index.php/jac/issue/view/538 (accessed June 11, 2012).

[2]. Arjun Appadurai, Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1996), 33.

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Citation: Duygu Gul. Review of Phillips, Kendall R.; Reyes, G. Mitchell, eds., Global Memoryscapes: Contesting Remembrance in a Transnational Age. H-Memory, H-Net Reviews. July, 2012.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=35433

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