Lee David’s book, “The Past Cannot Heal Us: The Dangers of Mandating Memory in the Name of Human Rights,” which was recently published in Cambridge University Press, has provoked widespread interest in both the theme of research and the original hypothesis the author presents. During the book seminar, we will discuss the concepts and character of human rights; whether the memory of victims of human rights violations helps confront the past; what is the German model of dealing with the criminal past and whether it can be universally applied; what is “moral memory” and how it moves between ideal and realization; is there a successful historical model of memory, or is any conflict authentic and incomparable; which attitude is an acceptable towards the victims and the problem of their ethno-identification; is there a “correct” way of remembrance that guarantees the strengthening of democracy and the implementation of human rights; in which NGOs and peacekeepers make mistakes in the process of dealing with the past; whether it is a controversial book or a topic and whether the tragic events of the past can be discussed in a critical and objective manner.

Participants:

Dr Lea David, author, Assistant Professor at the School of Sociology, University College Dublin.

Dr Jelena Vasiljević, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade.

Dr Jelena Djureinović, Postdoctoral Student, University of Vienna.

Dr Olga Manojlovic Pintar, Senior Research Associate, Institute for Recent History of Serbia in Belgrade.

Dr Katarina Ristić, Research Fellow, Global and European Studies Institute, University of Leipzig.