Partisan Histories: The Past in Contemporary Global Politics

Kenney, P.; Friedman, M.

Partisan Histories is an introduction to the multiple uses of history in contemporary political debate and conflict. As communities reimagine themselves, a contest over defining legitimacy, identifying us and others, and jockeying for political control intersects with fights over history and memory. Here distinguished scholars examine how competing versions of national identity are legitimized through appeals to carefully constructed 'pasts' both in democracies and in repressive regimes. The essays focus on the cases of Armenia, Chile, France, Germany, India and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine, Japan, Nigeria, and the United States to draw broader conclusions about the worldwide effect of traumatic memory, questions of punishment and restitution, and the instrumentalization of the past for political purposes.

Details

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 2005-06-15

Format: Hardcover

ISBN-13: 9781403964557

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-137-09150-5

Dimensions: 216cm x140cm

Pages: 198