Memory for Sale: How Groups “Distort” Their Collective Memory for Reconciliation Purposes and Building Peace

In this chapter I propose that in the context of reconciliation and peacebuilding, the construct of memory can be conceptualized as an individual and a social entity. Within the latter, the notion of memory as a collective or as a distributed recollection of events is emphasized. These memories somehow are related to certain components necessary for successful reconciliation efforts such as healing, forgiveness, truth, justice, and compensation. I further argue that the reconciliation process, in its essence, is the reconciliation of the memories themselves. The current model proposed to guide the study shows a bidirectional relationship between the constructs of collective memory and reconciliation, where the way people interpret, remember, and recall past events affects how they resolve social conflict and vice versa. Hence, appropriating collective memories may be the key to reconciliation regardless of the way it is achieved (even to the extent of distorting the memories for economic compensation). A one-sided persistence and claims of a group’s collective memories may impede the reconciliation process (Bar-Tal, 2007; Cairns & Roe, 2003; Tint, 2002). Using the case of a voluntary community reconciliation process in Indonesia, I show how it is possible to some extent to distort aspects of collective memory in the reconciliation process. In this case, a trade-off was agreed between the two parties, where the victimized party changed its memories when given some monetary compensation leading to reconciliation and satisfaction from both sides.