The Past, Present, and Future Entangled: Memory-Work as Decolonial Praxis
I inquire into how memory-work can be a decolonial praxis by looking at the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's will to remember atrocities committed against Muslims in the Philippines as well as stories of survivance, and how these shape their struggle for the right to self-determination
Drawing on my long-term ethnography, I discuss how memory-work plays a significant role in their struggle, which can be seen as a movement towards what Alfonso Ablán (2008) calls "re-existence."
I further suggest that one way to consider the decolonial potential of memory-work is to be attentive to the co-implication of the past, present, and future in people's narratives and lives, and the dynamics of collective memory formation. This attentiveness would necessitate looking into the entanglement of memory with imagination, and how this entanglement implicates temporality, fellow-feeling, and action. I end with some reflections on the failure of memory-work in struggles against violence and oppression by looking at the powerful forms of silencing and reframing of the memories related to the brutality of Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship by segments of the Philippine state and society.
Zoom:
https://lnu-se.zoom.us/j/7566108108
A seminar with Assistant Professor Dr Rosa Cordillera A.Castillo, Institute for Asian and African Studies, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin