MuseoMag: MuseoMag 2024_04

Metadata

Periodical

Title:: MuseoMag

Periodical volume

Title:: MuseoMag 2024_04

Article

Title:: A diversity of (post)memories: Remembering the Carnation Revolution

10 MuseoMag N°IV 2024 Listening and reading about the Carnation Revolution A DIVERSITY OF (POST)MEMORIES Remembering the Carnation Revolution © éric chenal “My father was in prison in Angola…” “Why? What did he do?” “Nothing, that’s how it was…” When schools visit the Nationalmusée um Fësch- maart’s exhibition about the Portuguese Carnation Revolution, La révolution de 1974, the participants, including most teachers, are too young to have memories of their own of that time. Nonetheless, many pupils with a Portuguese-speaking back- ground bring not only some knowledge about the events, but they react and comment in a way that is personal, bringing true emotions to the visit. These emotions are triggered by memories that are not their own, but “second-hand” memories of their parents or grandparents relating to events the older generation(s) experienced. And yet, they come across as real and strong, as if they were the children’s and grandchildren’s own memories. These second and third generation memories are often called post-memories. WHY MEMORIES? Memory, and post-memory even more so, are often deemed unreliable because they are subjective and there are seldom historical sources to back them up. Adding to memory’s bad reputation are the contradictions we find in different accounts of the same event. Each person remembers differently, even when the different “rememberers” are all being truthful. Still, society relies on mnemonic accounts, for example in witness statements in court or in truth commissions. What contribution can memory make when looking at the past and the way memories re- late to historical accounts? When a pupil of Angolan descent reveals that his father was imprisoned despite not having committed any crimes, just because “that’s how things were” in Angola, and then leaves it at that, there are indeed facts that are missing. There is no date, no specific region or city, no context to explain why this man went to prison. He could have been a combatant of one of the factions in the 1975–2002 civil war, an opponent of the dictatorship that governed the country, or merely randomly denounced for perso- nal reasons. What we do know is that he was locked up, not for a crime he committed, but because he was deemed undesirable or dangerous. In a group visit it is not possible to follow up on such observations and therefore they must stand

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: MuseoMag 2024_04

Periodical

Periodical volume

Article

Table of contents

Downloads

Image fragment