Images of Rabbi Uziel and their place in his commemoration

The article examines changes in the commemoration work and memorial discourse surrounding the first Sephardi Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel, Rabbi Ben-Tzion Meir Hai Uziel. While commemoration work in the public sphere in Israel has dwindled over the years, there has been a revival of memory discourse in recent years, especially amongst Religious Zionists. The article proposes reasons for this resurgence, including a response to processes of Haredization of the Sephardi spiritual leadership in Israel and a quest for a source of inspiration for a moderate, Zionist Orthodox rabbinate.     

A terrible beauty is bought: 1916, commemoration and commodification

Abstract

Mindful of Benedict Anderson’s emphasis on Imagined Communities on the power of print culture – and print-capitalism – to shape and share national ideas and identities, this article offers a comparative analysis of the commemorations of 1798 and 1916 by looking at commemorative ephemera: kitschy memorabilia, themed merchandise, newspaper cuttings and advertisements, handbills and inventively branded commodities, as important cultural texts which purveyed ideological values and meanings at the time of their production. It suggests that the consumer sphere allows us to shed light on the commemorative discourses these ephemeral objects produce, retelling and retailing the risings in question. Texts often regarded as throwaway or lowbrow vied for their share in the ideological marketplace to form part of the heritage of 1798 and 1916, the centenary of the one feeding into the ferment of the other. The reception and representation of the pivotal figures of Wolfe Tone and James Connolly is discussed through the prism of Thomas Richards’ conception of commodity culture, and attention is paid to counter-commemorative strands as well as positive rhetorics of remembrance.     

Nation,narrative and commemoration: political ritual in divided Cyprus

This article examines the issue of political commemoration, focusing on the commemorations organized by different political parties in the two sides of divided Cyprus. It suggests a new analytical framework for the study of ritual in contemporary nation‐states that moves beyond the usual examination of any single ritual on its own terms. The use of comparison, both within each side and between the two sides, reveals how political actors stage commemorations of different historical events in order to propose contesting historical narratives. Hence, the meaning of any commemorative ritual can be understood only as part of the broader story that each narrative proposes. The historical narratives proposed by different political actors share certain common characteristics by virtue of all employing the narrative form: a beginning, a plot, certain categories of actors, the spatial location where history unfolds, the moral centre through which events are to be evaluated and the end. However, each narrative suggests a different story through which issues of identity and “otherness”, self‐justification and blame are negotiated in order to define the “imagined community” of the nation, its enemies and its pertinent history.     

The two Jameses: a Joycean politics of criticism as commemoration

Abstract

This article considers how, and to what extent, James Connolly is represented in the works of James Joyce and evaluates the place of Connolly in Joyce through an exposition of Andrew Gibson and Len Platt’s characterisation of a “London method” and “Irish method” of Joyce criticism. Examining the relative absence of Connolly from Joycean representation in comparison to overt commemorations such as those of Yeats et al., I claim that historical criticism on Joyce displays a will-to-connection between Connolly and Joyce that makes present the absence of the former. Where Connolly appears in Joyce, I suggest it is as a ghost called into presence through suggestive absence and a drive to commemoration in critical readings, inscribed not only in a Joycean politics but also in a politics of Joyce criticism. At a critical historical juncture for a reappraisal of Connolly and in the light of recent movements for self-determination such as in Scotland, this article examines how it is Joycean criticism that forges a narrative of connection to Connolly, outlining a genealogy of Joycean criticism centring on politics and nation and drawing on examples from across the Joycean canon to posit a politics of criticism that is illuminating of both the historical method and historical moment.     

Liturgy against apostasy: Marian commemoration and the Jews in Visigothic Iberia

One of the most remarkable features of the earliest surviving liturgy for a feast of the Virgin Mary from seventh‐century Iberia is its incorporation of polemical material directed against Jews. This polemical dimension is explored here in the context of contemporary theological polemics and Visigothic law, particularly in relation to attempts to baptize Jews by force. Evidence that ecclesiastical leaders opposed the policy but had to come up with strategies to prevent those baptized from apostatizing raises the possibility that the Marian liturgy was intended to communicate Christian doctrine and warn against Jewish error among recent converts, as well as to assert episcopal control over Christian identity in the Visigothic kingdom.     

The 2010 independence jubilees: the politics and aesthetics of national commemoration in Africa

In 2010, as many as seventeen African states celebrated their independence jubilees. The debates surrounding the organisation of these celebrations, and the imagery and performances they employed, reflect the fault lines with which African nation‐building has to contend, such as competing political orientations as well as religious, regional and ethnic diversity. The celebrations represented constitutive and cathartic moments of nation‐building, aiming to enhance citizens' emotional attachments to the country and inviting to remember, re‐enact and re‐redefine national history. They became a forum of debate about what should constitute the norms and values that make‐up national identity and, in the interstices of official ceremonies, provided space for the articulation of new demands for public recognition. A study of the independence celebrations thus allows us to explore contested processes of nation‐building and images of nationhood and to study the role of ritual and performance in the (re)production of nations.     

Marginalisation through commemoration: Trends and practices in Holocaust education in the United Kingdom

This provocation reflects on trends in Holocaust education in the UK. It argues that an emphasis on cultivating memory means much teaching and learning about the Holocaust is commemorative rather than educational. In this pursuit it forwards five theses about the current condition of much teaching and learning about the Holocaust.     

The politics of genocide recognition: Kurdish nation-building and commemoration in the post-Saddam era

This article explores genocide recognition politics (GRP) with a specific focus on Saddam Hussein’s Anfal campaign (1988) against the Kurdish population in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). In the context of a pending referendum on independence in the KRI, this study investigates the evolution of GRP in relation to secession, nation-building and commemoration as well as the social, political and economic drivers in the process. In addition, the study zeroes in on the internationalization of genocide recognition claims via diaspora lobbying and the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq (KRG)’s bureaux of representation in Europe. The results are based on extensive fieldwork conducted with KRG representatives, diaspora entrepreneurs and other stakeholders between 2012 and 2016 in Europe and Iraqi Kurdistan. The KRG’s genocide recognition claims are not explicitly associated with secession, but instead are employed to legitimize local rule by referencing collective trauma and shared victimhood. In this way, Anfal – as the ‘chosen trauma’ – has become a component of (local) nation-building mechanisms. Nevertheless, recognition claims can become instrumentalized for secession so long as the political circumstances in the region become favourable to Kurdish independence. In the diaspora context, GRP serve to establish a link to homeland through commemoration practices, but they also provide greater space for lobbying and transnational advocacy networking.