Spain: A country tempered by sadness

Public adulation of Franco has ended; private sorrows remain.

The disappeared

Few happy endings, but in some cases justice is being seen to be done.

The right to remember and not necessarily to forgive

For over a century, Canada tried to assimilate its Aboriginal people, including setting up a system that sanctioned the kidnapping of native children. A reckoning was long overdue.

Do Cry for Me, Guatemala

In a decision with bitter repercussions, on 10 May 2013 Guatemalan ex-dictator Jose Efraín Rios Montt was sentenced to 80 years in prison for genocide and crimes against humanity. This victory happened after an unwarranted suspension of the trial and delaying tactics on the part of Montt’s legal team.

Sri Lanka: Isle full of noises that no one is listening to

The image of Sri Lanka as a latter-day paradise was tragically marred by a bitter civil war in which both sides committed atrocities. Denial is in the air – which will do nothing to reconcile an ancient people already divided by religion, ethnicity and language.

To remember, or not to remember: that is the question

Much ado about memory studies these days – an exciting discipline whose boundaries are still being established. A new book published by Palgrave-Macmillan explores the relationship between remembering and forgetting today and its political and social consequences.