Subtle Shifts In Memorializing the Past

‘How does a former colonial power deal with its colonial past, generations after the loss of empire?’ The opening line of Gert Oostindie’s piece in this book sums up the underlying theme of this work which is essentially a comparative study on the aftermath of Decolonization in the West, the way decolonization was memorialized and the subtle shifts in memorializing. Dietmar Rothermund in his editorial piece argues that the presence of empire had been central to the national identity and culture of these countries; and that the centrality of empire in the collective memory of these nations probably explains the desperate attempt by France and Netherlands to recover their colonies, countries already traumatized by defeat and occupation in World War II, a point missed by the contributors on Netherlands and France, namely Gert Oostindie and Eric Savarese respectively. With empire gone, the question of coping with this loss cropped up in all these countries, namely Great Britain, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy, Portugal and the odd man out Japan, the seven test cases in this collection of articles.