Abstract
As we close this volume, life under the pandemic has foregrounded various coping mechanisms that include individual and collective efforts to remember or forget pain. How each community experiences those events and emotions vary greatly.
Betty Campbell’s statue, which will be proudly located in the centre of Cardiff.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
In 2014, Britain joined the EU Joint Procurement Programme, but under the Brexit withdrawal agreement, Britain was still able to take part in the joint programme until 31 December 2020.
- 2.
This is a reference to an interview given by the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, when he suggested that there were various theories that needed to be seriously considered. One of them was that people should be prepared to accept that the virus must be allowed to spread (‘herd immunity’), and that the population would simply ‘get it over and done with’ or ‘take it on the chin’ (Vaughan 2020).
- 3.
This is a reference to patriotic stances that emerged in several parts of the country when the movie Dunkirk was released in 2017.
- 4.
Associating clapping with Britishness was an argument used by far-right supporters.
- 5.
Victory in Europe (VE) Day is a national day of commemoration that is marked annually in the United Kingdom (as well as across Europe) on 8 May since 1945.
- 6.
Echoing the piece on commemoration practices, see: Otele (2015).
- 7.
Including the Rhodes Must Fall (2015–), Black Lives Matter (2013–), Faidherbe Doit Tomber!, and Coordination Action Autonome Noire movements, and the Association Internationale Mémoires et Partages (1998–).
References
Aikins, J. K., & Kopp, C. (2008). Straßennamen mit Bezügen zum Kolonialismus in Berlin. Berlin. Accessed 11 July 2020. Via https://eineweltstadt.berlin/wp-content/uploads/dossier-koloniale-strassennamen-2008.pdf.
Butler, J. (2020, April 30). Interview by George Yancy. Judith Butler: Mourning Is a Political Act Amid the Pandemic and Its Disparities. TruthOut. Accessed 20 May 2020. Via https://truthout.org/articles/judith-butler-mourning-is-a-political-act-amid-the-pandemic-and-its-disparities/.
Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership. (2020). Legacies of British Slave-Ownership Maps of Britain, Jamaica, Barbados, and Grenada. Accessed 11 July 2020. Via https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/maps/britain.
Cep, C. (2020, May 14). Telling the Stories of the Dead Is Essential Work. The New Yorker. Accessed 22 May 2020. Via https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/telling-the-stories-of-the-dead-is-essential-work?fbclid=IwAR2SzkyfkWh-IV3x7Dwei5AIFvxkr4dmJUS0Eacvjs9RgMyDzFBDsrCMhCA.
Cook, T., Kursumovic, E., & Lennane, S. (2020, April 22). Deaths of NHS Staff from Covid-19 Analysed. Health Service Journal. Accessed 21 May 2020. Via https://www.hsj.co.uk/exclusive-deaths-of-nhs-staff-from-covid-19-analysed/7027471.article.
Crosby, A. (2003 [1989]). America’s Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
European Commission. Public Health. Accessed May 2020. https://ec.europa.eu/info/live-work-travel-eu/health/coronavirus-response/public-health_en.
Gentleman, A. (2019). Windrush Betrayal: Exposing the Hostile Environment. London: Guardian Faber Publishing.
Goodfellow, M. (2019). Hostile Environment: How Immigrants Become Scapegoats. London: Verso Books.
Kinnvall, C. (2004). Globalization and Religious Nationalism: Self, Identity, and the Search for Ontological Security. Political Psychology, 25(5), 741–767.
MacNicol, D. (2019, October 30). Artist Explores the “Dirty Secrets” of Scotland’s Colonial Past. BBC News. Accessed 11 July 2020. Via https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-50154835.
McElya, M. (2020, May 15). Almost 90,000 Dead and No Hint of National Mourning: Are These Deaths Not ‘Ours’? The Washington Post. Accessed 20 May 2020. Via https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/national-mourning-coronavirus/2020/05/15/b47fc670-9577-11ea-82b4-c8db161ff6e5_story.html.
Meretoja, H. (2020, May 19). Stop Narrating the Pandemic as a Story of War. Open Democracy. Accessed 20 May 2020. Via https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/stop-narrating-pandemic-story-war/?fbclid=IwAR1-CLZz2b6tTnj4bNoXKBwcXAqWcGOZdREhTT20BKmEPbo17jT4bSV_QlY.
Mitzen, J. (2006). Ontological Security in World Politics: State Identity and the Security Dilemma. European Journal of International Relations, 12(3), 341–370.
#NamingTheLost. (2020). Accessed 19 May 2020. Via http://namingthelost.com/.
Otele, O. (2015, June 3). Re-Branding the Trauma of Slavery or, How to Pacify the Masses with Sites of Memory. Discover Society. Accessed 30 May 2020. Via https://discoversociety.org/2015/06/03/re-branding-the-trauma-of-slavery-or-how-to-pacify-the-masses-with-sites-of-memory.
Otele, O. (2020). African Europeans: An Untold History. London: Hurst.
Pilkington, E. (2020, May 20). Black Americans Dying of Covid-19 at Three Times the Rate of White People. The Guardian. Accessed 21 May 2020. Via https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/black-americans-death-rate-covid-19-coronavirus.
Renan, E. (1990 [1882]). ‘What is a Nation?’ in Bhabha, H. (Ed.), Nation and Narration (pp. 8–22). London: Routledge.
Segal, D. (2020, May 14). Why Are There Almost No Memorials to the Flu of 1918? The New York Times. Accessed 20 May 2020. Via https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/14/business/1918-flu-memorials.html?fbclid=IwAR22Ign6TzhOa6ZiRLUJoxtHIce0LhWn4r2VVe-H-y4rsq2Fk6oXyfp27Rc.
Sevastopulo, D., & Manson, M. (2020, May 1). Trump Says He Is Confident Covid-19 Came from Wuhan Lab. Financial Times. Available via https://www.ft.com/content/84935e17-b50e-4a66-9c37-e2799365b783.
Siddique, H. (2020, May 1). British BAME Covid-19 Death Rate ‘More Than Twice That of Whites’. The Guardian. Accessed 20 May 2020. Via https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/01/british-bame-covid-19-death-rate-more-than-twice-that-of-whites.
The New York Times. (2020, May 24). An Incalculable Loss. Accessed 24 May 2020. Via https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/24/us/us-coronavirus-deaths-100000.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage.
Tisdall, S. (2020, March 21). Lay Off Those War Metaphors, World Leaders: You Could Be the Next Casualty. The Guardian. Available via https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/21/donald-trump-boris-johnson-coronavirus.
Vaughan, A. (2020, March 13). Why Is the UK Approach to Coronavirus So Different to Other Countries? New Scientist. Accessed 30 May 2020. Via https://www.newscientist.com/article/2237385-why-is-the-uk-approach-to-coronavirus-so-different-to-other-countries/#ixzz6NvfAK47B.
Zabludovsky, K. (2020, May 5). Bodies Are Getting Lost in This City That Has Been Ravaged by the Coronavirus. BuzzFeed News. Accessed 20 May 2020. Via https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/karlazabludovsky/coronavirus-ecuador-guayaquil.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Otele, O., Gandolfo, L., Galai, Y. (2021). Afterword: Mourning, Memorialising, and Absence in the Covid-19 Era. In: Otele, O., Gandolfo, L., Galai, Y. (eds) Post-Conflict Memorialization. Memory Politics and Transitional Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54887-2_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54887-2_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-54886-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-54887-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)