Multiple Memories of the Massacre of Bojayá

Abstract

One of the central claims of this book is that social memory can be a tool for peacebuilding, even during conflict. However, there is neither a single process of social construction of memory nor a single version about the past. Social memory is best understood as a multidirectional enterprise where different versions of the past are ‘subject to ongoing negotiation, cross-referencing, and borrowing; as productive and not private’ (Rothberg, 2009, p. 3). In the case of past atrocities, there is no monopoly over the truth of the events. Different social groups have different interests about the version that they want to present about the past, and borrowings and overlapping of details occur in the construction of these multiple versions. In this chapter I use the concept ‘interpretative repertoire’ from the field of discourse analysis in order to explain how similar pieces of information are used to build different narratives (Edley and Wetherell, 2001; Wetherell, 2006).