Move, Remove: the “Difficult” Uses of the (Colonial and Racist) Past, between Memory and History

Abstract

Which is the relationship between history and memory today and how do they act in public discourse? To understand this, we need to analyse the great space that memory has gained in recent years, placing the 20th century, as a tragic century, and the Shoah at the centre of public attention; and to question the need to open a broader phase of reflection on the policies of violence acted between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by states all over the world, primarily colonialism. This is the only path that can enable us to rediscover a proper relationship with history.