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On the Possibility of Reconstructing a Contested Past Through Memory Museums in Turkey

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The chapter aims to discuss the possibility of reconstructing and remembering Turkey's controversial past through memory sites, particularly memory museums. People's demand for decades long-awaited justice is also reflected in keeping the remnants of the past through what Aby Warburg calls ‘image memory.’ The state does not acknowledge what happened in the past. Thus, the ongoing struggles of people and their demand for memory museums and memory sites are important means for transforming public discourse about controversial historical facts and educating the wider public about contested pasts.

Keywords: Collective Memory ; Collective past ; democracy, justice, and reconciliation through museums ; human rights and democracy ; Memory Museums ; Memory politics ; Museum and education ; Prison Museum ; Remembering and forgetting ; responsibility of museum ; Visual culture

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On the Possibility of Reconstructing a Contested Past Through Memory Museums in Turkey
Intellect , 75 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781789389135_8
/content/books/9781789389135.c06
/content/books/9781789389135.c06
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References

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  3. Aslan, Ş. (2021, March 13). Dersim Kışlası'ndan ‘Tunceli Müzesi'ne: Bir mekânın toplumsal öyküsü. Birgün. https://www.birgun.net/haber/dersim-kislasi-ndan-tunceli-muzesi-ne-bir-mekanin-toplumsal-oykusu-330195
  4. Assmann, J. (2008). Communicative and cultural memory. In A. Erill , A. Noenning , & S. Young (Eds.), Cultural memory studies: An international and interdisciplinary handbook (pp. 109–118). Walter de Gruyter GmbH.
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  5. Bilgiç, A. (2018). Reclaiming the national will: Resilience of Turkish authoritarian neoliberalism after Gezi. South European Society and Politics, 23(2), 259–280.
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  6. Butler, J. (2009). Frames of war: When is life grievable? Verso.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Çakır, B. (2009, August 25). Turn Diyarbakır Prison into a museum! Bianet. https://m.bianet.org/bianet/other/116637-turn-diyarbakir-prison-into-a-museum
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  10. Halbwachs, M. (1992). On collective memory (L. A. Coser, Trans.). University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Hrant Dink Foundation. (n.d.). Story of 23.5 Hrant Dink site of memory. Hrantdink.org. https://hrantdink.org/en/site-of-memory/about-23-5/story
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     [Google Scholar]
  13. Kaya, A. (2013). Multiculturalism and minorities in Turkey. In R. Taras (Ed.), Challenging multiculturalism: European models of diversity (pp. 297–316). Edinburgh University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Laitin, D. (2007). Nations, states and violence. Oxford University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Mbembe, A. (2015). Decolonizing knowledge and the question of the archive. Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research. http://wiser.wits.ac.za/content/achille-mbembe-decolonizing-knowledge-and-question-archive-12054
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    [Google Scholar]
  17. Nora, P. (2002). Reasons for the current upsurge in memory. Eurozine. https://www.eurozine.com/reasons-for-the-current-upsurge-in-memory/
  18. Renan, E. (1990). What is a nation? In H. K. Bhabha (Ed.), Nation and narration (pp. 8–22). Routledge. (Original work published 1882)
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Solomonovich, N. (2021). “Democracy and National Unity Day” in Turkey: The invention of a new national holiday. New Perspectives on Turkey, 64, 55–80.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Sontag, S. (2003). Regarding the pain of others. Picador.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Young, J. E. (1993). The texture of memory: Holocaust memorials and meaning. Yale University Press.8687
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