Afterword: The Multiple Entanglements of Memory and Activism

Abstract

This short epilogue uses the previous chapters in the collection as a starting point for reflecting on the memory-activism nexus: the mutual entanglements and feedback loops between memory activism (contentious action to promote certain memories), the memory of activism (acts of remembrance about earlier social movements), and memory in activism (the role of memory in new acts of contention). In particular, it notes how movements actively promote the memory of their own activism in tandem with their promotion of the various causes to which they are committed. It flags the immense effort that activists themselves invest both in shaping how they themselves will be remembered in the future and in remembering the origins of their own movement. Whereas activism is rightly associated with futurity and with attempts to change the world it transpires here that many activists are also avid archivists and memorialists.