Memory Politics in Canada - Dr. Helga Hallgrimsdóttir
Dr. Helga Hallgrímsdóttir, University of Victoria, contributing to the interview series " Expert Voices on Memory Politics" realized with the financial support of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Kanada and Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. The interviews were recorded during the October 2022 conference "Addressing the Past - Shaping the Future".
For Dr. Hallgrímsdóttir, memory politics brings the notion of history to an emotional and individual level, relating it to both democracy and social inclusion. In this sense, Hallgrímsdóttir explains that emotional narratives are an incredibly powerful political tool, often used in ways that trigger exclusion or justify discrimination.
On the other hand - adds Dr. Hallgrímsdóttir - memory politics around reconciliation in Canada represents a positive way in which the politics of memory can in fact support
a different way of thinking about democracy in Canada. According to Hallgrímsdóttir, what is important to remember is that memory politics underlines that there is not one way of remembering and that what we remember is rooted in context, in structure, in power, in inequality as well as in identity and in how we remember it.
Further on, commenting on the reasons why there is a renewed interest in the history of the 20th Century as a tool for politics, Dr. Hallgrímsdóttir, notes that memory politics becomes a way to carry and amplify grievances. This is combined with a strong division between classes, disaffection in the population and romanticism of the past that is carried through memory politics. Finally, Hallgrímsdóttir reflects on truth and facts as natural extensions of memory politics and on the importance of introducing in school curriculums comparative perspectives, because they allow students to step back and think differently about their own contexts.
EUCAnet (Europe Canada Network) is a hub for experts primarily located in Canada that work on European and Canadian current issues from a transatlantic perspective. These experts offer commentary and expertise and are available for media interviews and public talks. We are a public outreach platform – that makes scholarly knowledge available and meaningful to the public in times when the need for evidence based knowledge and public debate is crucial. Our goal is to foster the Canada Europe Transatlantic Dialogue with the aim of supporting the process of informing public policy making.
Focus on : European Studies, Transatlantic Studies, Global Studies, Issues of Democracy, Populism, Memory Politics, Migration.
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