Remembering genocide in the diaspora: Place and materiality in the commemoration of atrocities in Rwanda and Sri Lanka

Abstract

The pain of war and genocide is often very physical and place-based. At the same time, displacement compels many of those who lost their loved ones to remember them and their homeland's violent past from afar. This article explores the territoriality and materiality of diaspora remembrance by looking at diaspora initiatives to remember victims of genocide and war in Rwanda and Sri Lanka. In Brussels, a memory conflict between supporters and critics of the Rwandan government is played out around a small monument. In rural United Kingdom, an envisioned memorial park to Tamils martyred in the struggle for independence illustrates how memorial spaces in the diaspora challenge official homeland state narratives of the past and carry meaning as a symbolic land for Tamils. Initiatives to plant trees, name streets and throw flowers on a river provide additional examples of how diaspora actors strive to anchor memory of atrocities physically and territorially. The article suggests that materiality and spatiality of memorialization takes on different meanings in a diasporic context, as initially 'meaningless' places are turned into selfreferential sites for remembrance, and the establishment of more permanent memorial structures can form part of home-making processes in the country of settlement.

The Significance of Materiality in Conflict Analysis, Healing, and Reconciliation

“…Public memorials and monuments are self-referential sites for remembrance that establish a more permanent memorial structure. Concerning healing and reconciliation, the assumption is that the "very materiality and design of memorials has the power to shape the ways people relate to a difficult past" (Orjuela 2020). As shown above, to cement their embeddedness in the communities and to facilitate healing and reconciliation with the violence, suicide organizations carry out commemorative activities.…”

Reimagining Narratives of Resistance: Memory Work in the London Tamil Diaspora

“…The de facto state, in the historical narrative set out in the exhibition, was arrived upon by visitors as a space of hope, potential and resistance to genocidal violence (Seoighe forthcoming). At the centre of the section, a reconstructed maaveerar ("great hero" LTTE cadre) grave and a fragment of grave stone were situated beside a Tamil Eelam national flag laid across a table, symbolizing the centrality of loss, death and sacrifice to the project of the separate state (Seoighe 2017;Orjuela 2019;Perera 2012;Natali 2008; de Mel 2007: 19). A separate room dedicated to Mullivaikkal, where tens of thousands of Tamils were massacred at the end of the war in 2009, Produced and distributed by Pluto Journals www.plutojournals.com/scj/ displayed dozens of original photographs, artistic responses to the horrors of this time, and information on accountability projects.…”

Refugee mental health and the role of place in the Global North countries: A scoping review

“…Yet, their focus on the role of structural and environmental conditions remained limited ( Clinton-Davis and Fassil, 1992 ; Muecke, 1992 ; Summerfield, 1991 ). Contemporary literature departs from these studies, focusing on notions of home-making ( Brun and Fábos, 2015 ; Wimark, 2021 ), place-attachment ( Albers et al, 2021 ), diaspora and community networks ( Muir and Gannon, 2016 ; Orjuela, 2020 ), and neighbourhoods as both spaces of inclusion and exclusion ( McWilliams and Bonet, 2015 ; Spicer, 2008 ).…”