From absent to present pasts: civil society,democracy and the shifting place of memory in Brazil |
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Authors: | Holly Eva Ryan |
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Affiliation: | Department of Politics, The Sir Bernard Crick Centre for the Public Understanding of Politics, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK |
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Abstract: | This article takes Alexis de Tocqueville’s concern with the emotional life of citizens as a cue for exploring the role of collective memory within ‘the self-organizing sphere’ and asking how the invocation of memory affects progress towards democracy. The article hones in on the Brazilian experience, re-assessing Brazil’s amnesiac past as well as its much-lauded ‘turn to memory’. Against common assertions that Brazil’s ‘turn to memory’ will enhance the country’s democratic credentials, this article argues that the move from an ‘absent’ to a ‘present’ past in Brazil in fact bodes rather mixed prospects for the country’s democratic deepening. |
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Keywords: | Civil society democracy collective memory Brazil Tocqueville truth and justice |
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