Description: The abuses and atrocities committed against indigenous populations during the colonial era are coming back to haunt the old imperial powers. As the idea of retributive justice becomes increasingly popular, former colonizing countries such as Britain, Spain, and the Netherlands are being held to account, through lawsuits and national apologies, for crimes they committed against native populations, requiring them to confront some of the grimmer aspects of their imperial pasts. This comparative study explores attitudes toward the existence of German, Spanish, American, and British concentration camps at the turn of the 19th Century. Through a critical genealogical study of these camp cultures, this text explores how imperialists and anti-imperialists have justified and condemned these camps and analyzes the continued debate on their legality, legitimacy, and necessity. Crucially, the study looks at current disputes between those who wish to revive memories of the struggles faced by Cuban guerillas, the Boers, and the Herero and Nama communities who were the victim of such horrendous atrocities and those who against calls for restorative justice for these crimes.
Review Quotes:
'In this impressively researched and deftly argued work, Marouf Hasian, Jr. demonstrates the instrumental function of rhetoric in shaping and reshaping (post)colonial pasts, presents, and futures. The author's theoretically adept, meticulously documented case analyses throw light on the 'amnesiac practices' that continue to fuel sociopolitical imaginaries. Hasian's book performs a timely intervention in humanitarian scholarship'
D. Robert DeChaine, California State University, Los Angeles, USA
'Marouf Hasian offers an innovative approach to thinking about (post)colonialism, and its relationship to memory. In his careful analysis of each case study from very different political and historical contexts, Hasian makes important connections between how memory is rhetorically constructed in the context of camps. The framework of 'camps' advances our understanding of (post)colonialism and memory. This book is a significant contribution to this area of inquiry.'
Tom Nakayama, Northeastern University, USA