The politics of ‘forgetting’ as poetics of belonging: between Greek self-narration and reappraisal (Michaniona, 2000/3)

TitleThe politics of ‘forgetting’ as poetics of belonging: between Greek self-narration and reappraisal (Michaniona, 2000/3)
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2007
AuthorsRodanthi Tzanelli
JournalNations & Nationalism
Volume13
Issue4
Pagination675-694
ISSN13545078
Abstract

The repressive mechanisms of collective memory have received due attention in the social sciences, with scholars examining the ethics of remembering and forgetting and their political implications. This study focuses on episodes that took place in a Northern Greek town in 2000 and 2003, when an Albanian student was twice denied the right to hold the Greek flag during a commemorative national parade. It is argued that this line of action against the student, representative of Greek attitudes towards immigrants in Greece, asserted the locality's participation in the Greek ‘imagined community’. This was made possible through a process of ‘forgetting’ the locality's history and the analogies this presents with the experience of contemporary immigration. Questioning the ethical implications of this collective decision, the article links regional micro-politics to nationalist discourses that originate in the European project itself.

URLhttps://libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=27648130&site=ehost-live&scope=site
DOI10.1111/j.1469-8129.2007.00314.x
Short TitleThe politics of ‘forgetting’ as poetics of belonging