Description
Memory and emotion are key components in commemoration. Following both memory and emotive ‘turns’ in International Relations, there is a large body of literature at the intersection of media, memory and commemoration but the majority of this literature orients commemoration solely to the past. Implicitly following a Western, linear understanding of time, commemorative events are often framed emotively, allowing states and/or individuals to ‘move on’ (Hollis-Toure, 2016) or ‘heal’ (Der Derian, 2011) though outpourings of grief, sorrow, solidarity and togetherness. Yet, there is a growing acknowledgment that time, especially ‘commemorative time’ (Zerubavel, 2005) is not fixed or stable. Current literature fails to adequately conceptualize commemoration in light of ‘new temporalities’ (Hoskins, 2004) opened up by technology, the role of emotion in creating these, and the impact both have on the formation of commemorative communities in the present.
Reflecting on recent events on Twitter where the hashtags #toujourscharlie and #plusquejamaischarlie were used to respond to a terror attack in September 2020 and to commemorate a previous one in 2015, this paper looks to explore the way that real-time media interactions as commemorative practices are politically significant. More specifically, it suggests that the immediate sharing of intensified and repeated emotions on social media destabilizes the linear narrative of commemoration favoured by the state. It allows us to see commemoration as a multi-directional practice that is not contingent on Western linear perceptions of time.
