Memorialising the Holocaust in Human Rights Museums

Katrin Antweiler

ISBN 10: 311162711X / ISBN 13: 9783111627113

Published by De Gruyter, 2024

About this Item

Druck auf Anfrage Neuware - Printed after ordering - 'Honourable Mention' in the 'Best First Book' Award of the Memory Studies Association (2025) This book provides an analysis of the forms and functions of Holocaust memorialisation in human rights museums by asking about the impact of global memory politics on how we imagine the present and the future. It compares three human rights museums and their respective emplotment of the Holocaust and seeks to illuminate how, in this specific setting, memory politics simultaneously function as future politics because they delineate a normative ideal of the citizen-subject, its set of values and aspirations for the future: that of the historically aware human rights advocate. More than an ethical practice, engaging with the Holocaust is used as a means of asserting one's standing on 'the right side of history'; the memorialisation of the Holocaust has thus become a means of governmentality, a way of governing contemporary citizen-subjects. The linking of public memory of the Holocaust with the human rights project is often presented as highly beneficial for all members of what is often called the 'global community'. Yet this book argues that this specific constellation of memory also has the ability to function as an exercise of power, and thus runs the risk of reinforcing structural oppression. With its novel theoretical approach this book not only contributes to Memory Studies but also connects Holocaust memory to Studies of Global Governmentality and the debate on decolonising memory politics. ; Im Kontext der kulturwissenschaftlichen Gedächtnisforschung widmet sich diese interdisziplinär ausgerichtete Reihe dem Verhältnis von Medien und kultureller Erinnerung. Die hier vorgestellten Studien behandeln die ganze Bandbreite der durch Medien konstruierten, tradierten und verbreiteten Erinnerung. Schrift und Bild, das Kino und die 'neuen' digitalen Medien, Intermedialität, Transmedialität und Remediation sowie die sozialen, zunehmend transnationalen und transkulturellen, Kontexte der mediatisierten Erinnerung gehören zu den Forschungsinteressen der Reihe. Ziel ist es, eine internationale Plattform für die interdisziplinäre Medien- und Gedächtnisforschung zu schaffen. Eingereichte Manuskripte werden im peer review Verfahren durch externe Experten begutachtet. Den Herausgebern, Astrid Erll (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) und Ansgar Nünning (Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen) ist ein internationaler Beirat aus renommierten Wissenschaftlern assoziiert: Aleida Assmann (Universität Konstanz)Mieke Bal (University of Amsterdam)Vita Fortunati (University of Bologna) Richard Grusin (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee) Udo Hebel (Universität Regensburg)Andrew Hoskins (University of Glasgow)Wulf Kansteiner (Binghamton University) Alison Landsberg (George Mason University) Claus Leggewie (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen)Jeffrey Olick (University of Virginia)Susannah Radstone (University of South Australia) Ann Rigney (Utrecht University)Michael Rothberg (University of Illinois) Werner Sollors (Harvard University)Frederic Tygstrup (University of Copenhagen) Harald Welzer (Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut Essen).

Seller Inventory # 9783111627113

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Memorialising the Holocaust in Human Rights Museums
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 311162711X
• ISBN 13: 9783111627113
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 230W x 155H x 14D millimeters 230 millimeters width by 155 millimeters height by 14 millimeters depth
• Weight: 380 grams

About this title

Synopsis

"Honourable Mention" in the "Best First Book" Award of the Memory Studies Association (2025)

This book provides an analysis of the forms and functions of Holocaust memorialisation in human rights museums by asking about the impact of global memory politics on how we imagine the present and the future. It compares three human rights museums and their respective emplotment of the Holocaust and seeks to illuminate how, in this specific setting, memory politics simultaneously function as future politics because they delineate a normative ideal of the citizen-subject, its set of values and aspirations for the future: that of the historically aware human rights advocate. More than an ethical practice, engaging with the Holocaust is used as a means of asserting one’s standing on "the right side of history"; the memorialisation of the Holocaust has thus become a means of governmentality, a way of governing contemporary citizen-subjects. The linking of public memory of the Holocaust with the human rights project is often presented as highly beneficial for all members of what is often called the "global community". Yet this book argues that this specific constellation of memory also has the ability to function as an exercise of power, and thus runs the risk of reinforcing structural oppression. With its novel theoretical approach this book not only contributes to Memory Studies but also connects Holocaust memory to Studies of Global Governmentality and the debate on decolonising memory politics.

About the Authors

Katrin Antweiler.

Katrin Antweiler, Universität Bremen.