European colonialism is an epistemic project in which collective memory plays a crucial role. Memory creates linear histories and consolidates cohesive identities while erasing difficult or marginalised histories and projecting contemporary Others across history. Memory, however, is also never singular: the dominant narrative of the past constantly interacts with, and is contested by, grassroots counter-narratives. As such, counter-narratives of national memory in postcolonial nations may enact memory as decoloniality. Drawing from decolonial and postcolonial theory, queer theory, cultural studies and memory studies, I argue that memory as decoloniality plays out in three ways. First, it entails delinking from official narratives of the past as false or incomplete. Second, it involves unsanctioned acts of mourning and melancholic reiterations of the unsettled past. Third, it writes new narratives and invents new traditions, replacing monumental history with a pluriverse of fragmented memories. This paper engages with a transnational range of cases of memory as decoloniality, reflecting critically on their promises and limitations. I conclude by reflecting on the implications of memory for larger political and cultural processes of decoloniality.
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Meghan Tinsley (2026) studied this question.
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