by Claire Ellis, Mary Anna Joyce, and Sam Sullivan
From Argentina’s Parque de la Memoria to Japan’s Hiroshima Peace Memorial, varying applications of historical memory around the world reveal unique stories of triumph, struggle, and evolutions in national identity. The following exploration begins in Latin America, extends to East Asia and Southeast Asia, and culminates in North and East Africa, where the political use of Uganda’s mass grave sites reflects the complexities of the nation’s past, and Algeria’s “Le Pavois” transforms from a symbol of colonialism to one of liberation.
Argentina: Following the end of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina, also known as ‘The Dirty War,” several groups formed ephemeral and permanent sites to memorialize the victims of the dictatorship. One of the best known sites is Parque de la Memoria (Remembrance Park) in Buenos Aires, a public monument created in 1999 dedicated to the victims and forcibly “disappeared” Argentinians (los Desaparecidos) during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. Situated near the Jorge Newbury airport, where former Desaparecidos were often thrown out of planes over the ocean by military officials, the location of the park reflects the history of the dictatorship. The park also features a stone wall engraved with the names of the nearly 30,000 victims of the military dictatorship. Now, the park is used for public remembrance, recreation, and diplomatic visits from other world leaders to pay respect to los Desaparecidos. The decision to locate the monument in the casual setting of a public park, rather than a museum or stand alone statue, rehumanizes the victims and serves as Argentinians’ daily reminder of the lives that the dictatorship intended to eradicate from history.
Venezuela: Following the death of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez (1993-2013), several statues of Chávez were erected across the country. The statues, which often depict Chávez in his military uniform, right hand raised in salute, have been the subjects of political opposition and disillusionment with current president Nicolás Maduro (2013-Present). Although the official number of Chávez statues throughout Venezuela are unknown, 6 of the 17 known statues were toppled in 2017 by dissidents protesting Maduro’s calls to rewrite the constitution in an attempt to limit the powers of the opposition-led national assembly. Protesters smashed, toppled and burned statues, demonstrating their opposition to the Maduro government through the symbolism of his predecessor. Although statues of Chávez still exist in Venezuela today, they no longer memorialize the legacy of the former president in the eyes of the opposition, but rather represent the shortcomings of Maduro’s government in preserving socioeconomic stability and democracy.
Japan: The Hiroshima Peace memorial honors the most devastating nuclear attack in modern history. Displaying the names of hundreds of thousands of victims and survivors, the memorial reminds the public of the extreme dangers of nuclear war and the devastating civilian toll it is bound to take. The Genbaku Dome, pictured in the center back of the image, was one of the only structures that withstood the initial attack, and it is now a symbol of hope for “No More Hiroshimas.” Thus, the site celebrates the promotion of global peace, ultimately conveying the motive of Japan’s prioritization of peaceful relations since World War II. Ultimately, by honoring the victims every year at the Hiroshima Peace memorial on August 6th, Japan reinforces the idea that the use of nuclear weapons will never be forgotten in Japanese historical memory.
Philippines: During World War II, the Malinta Tunnel was an integral strategic fortress for the Philippines, and thus a high priority target for the Japanese military to occupy. Known as the First Battle of Corregidor in 1942, Japanese troops overpowered Filipino and American forces and successfully pushed General McArthur and President Quezon to Australia. In 1945, Filipino and American forces faced the Japanese army in Corregidor for a second time and reclaimed their land. Throughout the battles, a group of primarily Filipino soldiers and civilians converted the artillery tunnel into a hospital as they hoped to evade conflict. Some Japanese soldiers stuck in the artillery tunnel during the Second Battle of Corregidor committed suicide, and their remains have never been removed from the site. Today, tourists can visit the Malinta Tunnel museum and view an artistic depiction of the evacuation of President Quezon and General McArther during the First Battle of Corregidor. The Malinta Tunnel demonstrates that democratic historical memory in the Philippines is alive and well. Film director Lamberto V. Avellana’s audio-visual reconstruction conveys the inevitable triumph of democracy against imperial powers during the conflict by centering the human perspective of the soldiers’ experiences. Indeed, without the Filipino and American joint effort in WWII, the Philippines may not be a democratic,sovereign state today.
Uganda: In Luwero Triangle, an area in Uganda just north of the country’s capital Kampala, a mass grave site has become the topic of controversial perceptions of historical memory. The Luwero Triangle was an important site in the Ugandan Civil War (1980-1986) between the official Ugandan government and the ultimately victorious rebel group, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). During the war, an estimated 300,000 civilian deaths occurred in the Triangle. Today, Uganda houses 33 mass grave monument sites of unidentified skulls and remains in remembrance of the lives lost during the war. The graves have been repurposed, however, to serve the political ends of the contemporary Ugandan government: In the time since the Civil War took place, NRM leader Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the current president of Uganda, has exploited these well-intended memorials to evoke memories of the civilian death toll to intimidate political and military opposition groups. Using the remains as “scarecrow propaganda,” the Museveni government frequently implies that if Ugandans vote for the opposition, the country will return to its violent past. In this way, Uganda’s collective memory of the Luwero graves is still being defined by the political narrative of the present government.
Algeria: “Le Pavois,” literally meaning “The Bulwark,” is a since-forgotten monument in Algeria that has been encased in a brutalist liberation monument since 1978. Originally designed by Paul Landowski in 1928, the monument was intended to “show the close ties that bind the populations of Europe and Africa.” In other words, it was a tone-deaf expression of French colonialism that had systematically oppressed Algerian society for almost a century. Around a decade after the Algerian War of Independence ended in 1962, Algiers hosted the All-African Games and could not display such an overtly colonial monument in the city that intended to showcase “itself as the cradle of revolutionary anti-colonialism.” Consequently, local artist M’hamed Issiakhem organized a group of artists to convince government authorities to repurpose the monument into a brutalist design with fists breaking out of the chains of colonialism carved on the outside. Although Algerian civil society still suffers restrictions on political liberties, the FLN party’s rule exists in a post-colonial context that should be examined as such and not by the standard of the liberal international order that might justify regime change over promoting the positive direction of democratic historical memory.
Claire Ellis is a senior at Tufts University studying History.
Mary Anna Joyce is a freshman at Tufts University studying International Relations and Finance.
Sam Sullivan is a junior at Tufts University studying International Relations and Philosophy.
This piece is a reproduction from its original issue in Hemispheres vol. 47, no. 1.
tuftshemispheres.org 