12 MuseoMag N°IV 2024 A DIVERSITY OF (POST)MEMORIES erupted during the process of decolonisation. These individual memories complicate the historical deco- lonisation narrative. As personal memories and post-memories add new layers and illuminate hitherto unexplored as- pects of the past, the line that separates the cate- gories of victims and perpetrators becomes blurred. It is, however, important to frame these memories in a way that avoids historical revisionism but rather invites us to look more closely and listen more care- fully to the information we have about a given event. REMEMBERING IS ABOUT THE FUTURE One of the many positive outcomes of memory studies is the impact this engagement with the past has on the present, and even on the future. When we take an interest in how historical events impac- ted the lives of everyday people on both sides of a divide, and how they remember and narrate these events, we learn to look beyond our personal, group or national circumstances. Because memories and remembering affect us in the present and the way we think, memories also help shape the future. This futurity of memory gains yet another dimen- sion when we consider memories of happy and hopeful moments. Happy memories often relate to and re-enact moments of hope: “When my father heard I’d be coming to this exhibition, he spent the weekend talking about the Revolution. We also liste- ned to songs from that time.” This father is most pro- bably too young to have memories of the Carnation Revolution himself, but the memories of the previous generation have nourished his perception of the sense of joy and hope associated with this event. His daughter’s visit to the exhibition triggered his memories of his parents’ memories of revolutionary hope that he now shared with his daughter. Vera Herold The exhibition La révolution de 1974. Des rues de Lisbonne au Luxembourg is on view at the Nationalmusée um Fëschmaart until 5 January 2025. Listening to the memories of others © éric chenal