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Autumn

2023

Constructing Postconflict Memoryscapes: From Narratives of Division to Coexistence

Published
2024-03-01

Abstract

The construction of postconflict memoryscapes links past and present to legitimize contemporary politics. Memoryscapes serve a particular purpose in territorial conflicts where claims to territorial ownership and sovereignty are based on specific readings of history. This is the case in Kosovo, which is at once a physical place defined by a conflict, and an immaterial space of situated memory. Using the 1690 Great Migration and the historic grave sites in the Sharr Mountains as examples, we demonstrate that memoryscapes anchored in Kosovo’s postconflict landscape amplify divisional narratives and marginalize memories of coexistence. Such silencing of alternative memoryscapes of coexistence impedes the transition from conflict to peace.