Memory and Community Healing
Venue: Omadu Hotel, Kezi
Date: 22 November 2018
Time: 0800hrs to 1700hrs
Background
According to Amadiume and An-Naim (2000:31)1, “a people who do not preserve
their memory are a people who have forfeited their history”. Looking back at the
past helps in exploration of a past wrong which can;
...serve as entry points into any evident malaise within societies, into an
understanding of the eruptions that confound even our grossest projections of
the capacity of humanity for unconscionable acts of violation against its own
kind (Amadiume and An-Naim (2000:22)
A reflection on what transpired in the past including the role played by both victims
and perpetrators enables projection of future violations and can be used in
preventing a repeat act.
Memorialisation and memory can be demonstrated by the erection of public
memorials and these may be “physical representations or commemorative activities”
1
Amadiume, I. and A. An-Na’im (2000) The Politics of Memory –Truth, Healing & Social Justice. London: Zed
Books
Page | 1