"History textbooks are the only history books that the majority of people read in their lives. This article investigates the impact of history textbooks on young Chinese people’s understanding of their nation’s modern history, as revealed on the popular microblogging site SinaWeibo.We analysed p
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osts related to history textbooks and their representations of three contentious turning points in the communist historical narrative: the May Fourth Movement of 1919, the nationalist assault on the communists in 1927 and the Yan’an Rectification Movement of 1942. Widespread engagement with and recollection of history textbook content indicates a substantial impact of these textbooks on people’s understanding of the past and a willingness to relate that past to the present. Responses to textbooks vary widely, from acceptance of the textbook narrative and the expression of strong patriotic and emotional connections to the past as presented in textbooks to open and angry critique." (Abstract)
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"The exhibition focuses on how young people envision their identities in their respective countries: what mental images do they collectively have about their life experiences. Thus, this project seeks to present collective memories from different parts of the world in an exhibition that will promote
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visual culture. It explores the way in which parts of the world presents themselves within a contemporary space. This exhibition therefore aims at giving the younger generation an edge in the visualization and narration of their understanding of the past through various means of artistic expressions. The expectation is that, these students’ works, created and exhibited from a wide and divergent cultural experience would provide some sort of emotional templates and indicators for the understanding of other cultures." (Introduction, page 5)
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"Drawing on cultural trauma theory, this book investigates how collective memory of the Nanjing Massacre [by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing, China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945] is fashioned in China and how the mass media, political power and public praxis jointl
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y shape the politics and culture of memory in contemporary China. Allowing for the dimensions of history and different mediating spaces, the authors first conduct textual analysis of news reports from traditional media since the event took place, revealing that the significance of the massacre was initially portrayed as a local incident before its construction as a national trauma and finally a collective memory. In a study of physical and online memorial spaces, including the Memorial Hall, commemorative activities on the Internet and new media platforms, the book unveils the production and reproduction of trauma narratives as well as how these narratives have been challenged. The final part further studies the interactions between media and other institutional settings while exploring issues of global memory and reconciliation in East Asia." (Publisher description)
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"This book is about postcolonial memory in the Netherlands. This term refers to conflicts in contemporary society about how the colonial past should be remembered. The question is often: who has the right or ability to tell their stories and who do not? In other words: who has a voice, and who is si
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lenced? As such, these conflicts represent a wider tendency in cultural theory and activism to use voice as a metaphor for empowerment and silence as voice’s negative counterpart, signifying powerlessness. And yet, there are voices that do not liberate us from, but rather subject us to power. Meanwhile, silence can be powerful: it can protect, disrupt and reconfigure. Throughout this book, it will become clear how voice and silence function not as each other’s opposites, but as each other’s continuation, and that postcolonial memory is articulated through the interplay of meaningful voices and meaningful silences." (Publisher description)
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"Social media platforms hold vast amounts of biographical data about our lives. They repackage our past content as ‘memories’ and deliver them back to us. But how does that change the way we remember? Drawing on original qualitative research as well as industry documents and reports, this book c
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ritically explores the process behind this new form of memory making. In asking how social media are beginning to change the way we remember, it will be essential reading for scholars and students who are interested in understanding the algorithmically defined spaces of our lives." (Publisher description)
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"This volume traces the distinct cultural languages in which individual and collective forms of trauma are expressed in diverse variations, including oral and written narratives, literature, comic strips, photography, theatre, and cinematic images. The central argument is that traumatic memories are
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frequently beyond the sphere of medical, legal, or state intervention. To address these different, often intertwined modes of language, the contributors provide a variety of disciplinary approaches to foster innovative debates and provoke new insights. Prevailing definitions of trauma can best be understood according to the cultural and historical conditions within which they exist. Languages of Trauma explores what this means in practice by scrutinizing varied historical moments from the First World War onwards and particular cultural contexts from across Europe, the United States, Asia, and Africa – striving to help decolonize the traditional Western-centred history of trauma, dissolving it into multifaceted transnational histories of trauma cultures." (Publisher description)
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"Konzentrationslager als virtuelle Realität. Digitale Repräsentationen des Holocausts und ihre Grenzen der Wahrheit. Wenn es um den Holocaust geht, werden die "Grenzen der Darstellung" seit den seit den 1990er Jahren ausführlich diskutiert. Neuere digitale Technologien wie AR, VR und verschiedene
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andere Ansätze zur Erzeugung von Unmittelbarkeit, Immersion und emotionaler Intensität haben erneut heftige Reaktionen und Kontroversen ausgelöst. Dieser Artikel bietet eine Typologie der digitalen Ansätze, die seit 2010 zur Darstellung von NS-Konzentrationslagern verwendet wurden. In Anlehnung an Baudrillards Unterscheidung zwischen "Nachahmung", "Produktion" und "Simulation" und "Simulation" der Realität lassen sich verschiedene Regime von Beziehungen zwischen historischer Realität Repräsentationen von Geschichte identifiziert werden. Ungeachtet neuer Wahrnehmungsdimensionen, werden bisherige Narrative und Perspektiven zur Darstellung der NS-Verbrechen "saniert". (Abstract)
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"Why and how can records serve as evidence of human rights violations, in particular crimes against humanity, and help the fight against impunity? Archives and Human Rights shows the close relationship between archives and human rights and discusses the emergence, at the international level, of the
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principles of the right to truth, justice and reparation. Through a historical overview and topical case studies from different regions of the world the book discusses how records can concretely support these principles. The current examples also demonstrate how the perception of the role of the archivist has undergone a metamorphosis in recent decades, towards the idea that archivists can and must play an active role in defending basic human rights, first and foremost by enabling access to documentation on human rights violations. Confronting painful memories of the past is a way to make the ghosts disappear and begin building a brighter, more serene future. The establishment of international justice mechanisms and the creation of truth commissions are important elements of this process. The healing begins with the acknowledgment that painful chapters are essential parts of history; archives then play a crucial role by providing evidence. This book is both a tool and an inspiration to use archives in defence of human rights." (Publisher description)
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"During recent decades, the question of how societies deal with the past has received increasing attention from political actors, civil society and academia. Yet, dealing with the past continues to be a very controversial issue that causes polemic debates. This book contributes to a cross-regional a
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nalysis of how societies in Latin America, South Africa and Germany deal with a past containing massive human rights violations." (Publisher description)
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"[...] The past does not really exist: it is only a story we tell ourselves. But what happens when we tell this story not only to ourselves but also to our followers, when it is recorded not only on our social media pages but also on the pages of hundreds or thousands of others, making it something
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that can be viewed and referenced forever? Social media networks are becoming vast digital archives in which the past merges seamlessly with the present, slowly erasing our capacity to forget. And yet at the same time, our memory is being outsourced to systems that we don't control and that could become obsolete at any time, cutting us off from our memories and risking total oblivion." (Back cover)
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"This project has explored the ways in which an independent, public service-spirited media could create content about historical issues that avoids playing into propaganda-driven divides, fosters a more constructive discourse around history and brings Ukrainians into a common national conversation.
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The results of our project will also be of use to public diplomats, civic actors and educators, as well as to media outlets that share our aim of reducing polarisation in Ukraine and other countries, and building resilient societies with a full, free and evidencedriven public debate. Arena began the project with polling and segmentation analysis that investigated Ukrainians’ attitudes to history, political beliefs, identity and social values. We then held focus groups designed to identify the common concerns that unite Ukrainians. Using various insights from that analysis and the advice of prominent historians, we worked with Hromadske, an independent Ukrainan online media outlet, to create 16 pieces of video content. Finally, we explored polarised audiences’ reactions to these videos by measuring levels of online engagement and carrying out opinion polls, focusing in particular on the levels of trust." (Executive summary)
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"Nichts scheint ferner zu liegen, als während einer Pandemie über Gedächtnis nachzudenken. Wir stecken noch mittendrin. Aber das gesellschaftliche Erinnern und Vergessen von Pandemien hat die Erfahrung von Covid-19 stark vorgeprägt. Praktiken des historischen Erinnerns, des Archivierens und Gede
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nkens haben sich als wichtige Ressourcen inmitten der Coronavirus-Pandemie erwiesen. Und als erinnerter Gegenstand schließlich wird Covid-19 auch die Zukunft unserer Gesellschaft mitprägen. Deshalb diskutiere ich in diesem Beitrag die Rolle des kollektiven Gedächtnisses vor, während und nach der Coronavirus-Pandemie." (Einleitung)
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"[...] Im günstigen Falle bilden Bibliotheken, Archive, Museen, Forschungseinrichtungen und Medien mit digitalen Angeboten, geeignet kontextualisiert und erklärt, Anlaufpunkte der Orientierung und befördern den Diskurs über den Nationalsozialismus und die damit verbundenen abscheulichen Gräuelt
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aten. Diese Institutionen können zusammen als „Stimmen der Vernunft“ in die Resonanzräume des Internets gegen die Polemik der „Schnellen und Lauten“ wirken, die diese öffentlichen Räume auch zur Verbreitung nationalsozialistischen Gedankenguts nutzen. Im vorliegenden Tagungsband wird die kritische, transdisziplinäre Debatte zur zentralen Frage nach dem „richtigen“, das heißt verantwortungsvollen Um gang mit „toxischen“ Inhalten geführt. Sie widmet sich den rechtlichen und ethischen, aber auch organisatorischen, technischen, und gesellschaftlichen Aspekten dieser Frage. Ich wünsche diesem Tagungsband aufmerksame Leser*innen und der Debatte die erforderliche Gestaltungskraft, so dass daraus Impulse für den umsichtigen Umgang mit den Digitalisaten der NS-Zeit erwachsen." (Begleitwort Seite 15)
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"[...] this toolkit aims to support civil society generally, while explicitly accommodating the needs and contexts of the local partners that work with the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation. In this sense, it pays particular attention to creating and sharing advocacy campaigns
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that amplify the voices of survivors and address the holistic needs of communities emerging from conflict. This toolkit also offers suggestions for navigating complications that are common in post-conflict settings, including security concerns and taboos around discussing painful histories. Intended as a concise guide, it provides general advice on developing, implementing, and launching advocacy campaigns. The toolkit is made available alongside a range of images that were designed in partnership with Amplifier, a nonprofit design lab that builds art and media experiments to amplify the most important movements of our times." (About this toolkit)
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