Non-Places of Memory: Space, Materiality and False Cemeteries

Abstract

"The article deals with the concept of non-place of memory (NPM). Author defines NPM broadly as entity which once created by people lost its perceptive properties as man-made, but at the same time kept it material basis. In the narrower sense of the definition NPM are places of murder and bodies deposition sites which are either unrecognized as such or haven’t been yet changed into places of memory. Analysis are based mostly on cases of Roma massacres in Poland which took place during II World War, and compared with history of burials and concept of cemetery. Transitions of NMP is then explained by using the Mary Douglas’ concept of anomaly. Keywords: Non-place of memory, place of memory, genocide, materiality, space"

Walled in, Out of Sight: The Contested Urban Environment of Baghdad

“…In the Sunni Adhamiya neighborhood, locals removed a children's playground to construct a cemetery for the community's deceased civilians and militia members (Abdul-Ahad 2009). The act of appropriating a playground to a cemetery altered the place from one of childhood joy to one of somber remembrance and belonging (Połuszny 2020). It also deepened the sense of place and neighborhood/religious identity as opposed to the city as a whole.…”