We could remember it for you wholesale

Jens Bartelson

pp. 33-53

in: Duncan Bell (ed), Memory, trauma and world politics, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006

Abstract

The world of international relations is in many ways a strange one. Within the discipline devoted to its study, we have long believed this world to be composed of nation states, to the point of taking their existence for granted. On those rare occasions when we feel compelled to inquire into the historical foundations of these nations and states, we are likely to discover that they are the outcome of prior processes of homogenization. Yet these processes of homogenization seem to presuppose some primordial differentiation of humanity into territorially bounded communities in order to be fully intelligible.¹ In this chapter, I will explore the prehistory of this differentiation. Doing this, I will discuss the historical connection between distinct forms of memory and the formation of nation states, with particular reference to the intellectual history of Portugal, Britain and France. My reason for undertaking this task is the lingering suspicion that the present differentiation of humanity into distinct peoples is about to fade, leaving us with the laborious task of reorganizing our memories (and ourselves) in order to meet the challenges of what promises to be a more cosmopolitan future. I will therefore describe how a mnemonic practice has evolved from imperial to national forms and conclude by raising some questions about the possibility of a genuinely global memory. And as every such transition has brought a sense of loss, we must also ask to what extent we are traumatized by those transitions, past or future.