REMEMBER AND RECONCILE

REMEMBER AND RECONCILE

Cultural encounters are deeply shaped by the fundamental memories of those involved in these concrete encounters and too often result in actual conflicts, especially when fundamental memories contradict each other, are forged or abused for propaganda issues. This is what we are experiencing in our days.

In societies of increasing fragmentation and polarization, it is fundamental to reflect on how societies relate to their historical memory. Memory, in the good sense of the term, forges the human and cultural identity by reminding us who we were/are, how we got here and helps us to project the future in the present. This essential tension between tradition and innovation can only function properly if we acknowledge the lessons of Paul Ricoeur, namely, that the abuses and manipulation of memory (via distortion, revision or annulment) impede the process of reconciliation, putting the notion of forgiveness in peril. Without forgiveness the traumatic memories of the past (wars, famine, violence, etc.) cannot be healed. The wound will only be superficially closed and then, easily reopened. Understanding the necessary steps to reconciliation implies understanding the dynamics of forgiveness. Only in this way we can construct a healed memory, maintain hope (despite the traumatic memories) and initiate a process of restorative justice.



Programme

9.00 am
Welcome and Introduction

9.15-10 am 
Susana de Sousa Vilas Boas (Granada)
On Ricoeur: memory in politics and religion and its implications for forgiveness and Hope

10-10.45 am
Daniel Wehinger (Innsbruck)
Struggle or Gift? Kojève and Ricoeur on Recognition

10.45-11.15 am 
Coffee Break

11.15-12.00 am
Magdalena Nauderer (Munich/Jesuit World Wide Learning Iraq)
Nurturing Peace – An Introduction to JWL’s Peace Leader Programme

12.00-12.30 am 
Final Reflection: Memory – Reconciliation and the Future of Theology/Philosophy