Hiroshima Memoryscape: Nation-Making and Uncanny Time-Space. (English)

TitleHiroshima Memoryscape: Nation-Making and Uncanny Time-Space. (English)
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsAkiko Naono
JournalJapanese Sociological Review / Shakaigaku Hyoron
Volume60
Issue4
Pagination516-533
ISSN00215414
Abstract

We have witnessed, especially in the Euro-American context, an explosion of interest in memory since the 1980s. This phenomenon is often attributed to postmodernism, a rise of interest in the Holocaust memories, and withering away of "experiential memories" held by those who survived the Holocaust. At the same time, our fascination is also indicative of the way in which memory has become an inseparable part of the efforts for achieving justice and redress internationally. Indeed. memory has become one of the central political arenas for decolonization efforts. This "memory boom." especially in the academic context, owes much to Pierre Nora's innovative les lieuxde de mémoire project. While it has inspired many in memory studies across disciplines. Nora has been criticized for his imperialistic nostalgia. If we were to recuperate a critical potential in les lieuxde de mémoire project, we ought to rearticulate the way in which Nora used lieuxde not simply as a physical but also as a symbolic site. Along the line of such efforts, let us propose "memoryscape" as a spatially inspired concept of memory. Memoryscape. as a time-space metaphor, provides historical frameworks for individuals and social groups upon remembering the past. It is also an image of the past that individuals and social groups produce, maintain, and transform through their mnemonic practices. With this working definition, we can now analyze the Hiroshima memoryscape. Taking the Peace Park as the nodal point in Hiroshima's memoryscape, "peace" emerges as the most visible image, while Japan's historical continuity with its imperialist past is hardly visible. The memorial space of the Peace Park has been written with post-war Japan's nationalist grammar: yet. it is also a liminal space of modernity's project, where "homogeneous empty time" gets contaminated with the uncanny time-space.

Short TitleHiroshima Memoryscape