The Politics of a Memory Wound: Norwegian Exceptionalism and the Trauma of July 22, 2011

Abstract

Following the July 22, 2011, Oslo bombing and shootings at the Utøya youth camp Norway became embroiled in a conflict over commemorative ethics. The memorial initially selected in an international contest, Memory Wound by Jonas Dahlgren, drew opposition from victims’ families and local residents for its severe impact on the natural landscape. Plans for installation were cancelled in 2017. This controversy, we submit, must be contextualized in relation to the Norwegian justice system’s handling of Anders Breivik, the perpetrator whose criminal proceedings were kept relatively secluded. We demonstrate how the design of Memory Wound and the suppression of Breivik’s publicity reflect a symbolic logic traceable to a national imaginary of Norwegian exceptionalism. By interpretively aligning the use of negative space in Memory Wound with the muting of Breivik as a media event, we investigate the prescriptive force of symbols to inculcate world views. Specifically, we attend to the foreclosure of “prosthetic memory,” which through media circulation allows people to engage with memory that is not primarily theirs. We acknowledge the possibility of empathy across difference that Landsberg ascribes to prosthetic memory; however, we insist that the circumstances under which solidarity might be rejected must be considered. With a dual case study, we offer a perspective on enduring assumptions about cultural identity and the rise of rightwing extremism in Northern Europe.

Remembering Utøya, 10 Years Later: Enduring Lessons for Counter-Terrorism

“…61 Norway's united response helped not only limit follow-on attacks-with the exception of an August 2019 shooting at a mosque in Baerum-but also ensured that the political message shared by the killer was muted: "the national public rallied around the resolution that Breivik's brutality would not undermine the nation's commitment to its defining ideals," E. Johanna Hartelius and Kaitlyn E. Haynal recall. 62 Norway's rejection of Breivik's ideas and ideology was particularly pronounced during the killer's trial. Breivik had initially intended to use the trial as "a stage to the world" 63 -he pled not guilty on account of self-defence, and claimed to "not recognize the Norwegian courts."…”