The Centre for Feminist Research (CFR) at York University hosted a powerful and thought-provoking book launch for Memorializing Violence: Transnational Feminist Reflections, a collection of feminist and queer reflections on the transnational lives of memorialization practices. Edited by Alison Crosby, Associate Professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies, and Heather Evans, doctoral scholar in the Graduate Program in Gender, Feminist and Women’s Studies, the book takes an in-depth look into the complex processes of remembering, mourning, and grieving in the wake of colonial, imperial, militarized, and state violence. The hybrid launch, at which several of the volume’s contributors spoke, was not only a celebration of the book’s completion but a reaffirmation of the critical role that collectively inhabiting grief plays in the building of liberated futures.
The culmination of nearly 20 years of collaborative work, Memorializing Violence challenges the very ways in which societies memorialize and reckon with loss. The book, dedicated to Crosby’s decades-long collaborator, the late Sri Lankan activist and scholar Malathi de Alwis, interrogates memorials, museums, archives, art installations, and performances as sites of constant contestation and asks: who gets remembered or forgotten, whose losses are mourned, and how can grief be transformed into a force for social change?
One of the most refreshing aspects of Memorializing Violence, according to Evans, is the focus on community-based forms of memorializing. These approaches see grief not as something to be overcome, but as a vital and ongoing process, one that has the potential to mobilize communities to build a better, more just world. In this way, the book presents grief as a collective act of care and resistance, offering new perspectives on how loss can fuel transformative change.
Photo of Alison Crosby and Heather Evans
Photo of the cover of Memorializing Violence: Transnational Feminist Reflections
Evident at the launch was Crosby and Evans’ mutual dedication to the project, which they each approach from their respective enmeshments in transnational memorial movements. Crosby’s research focuses on the struggles to redress and memorialize harm in the aftermath of political violence, particularly in Guatemala, where she has worked for more than 30 years. Through an anti-racist, anti-colonial, and transnational feminist lens, she explores the intersections of memory, justice, and reparation. Evans, drawing from their extensive background as a campaigner and researcher in the ‘comfort women’ movement, as well as their work on memorialization landscapes and modern slavery discourses, brings a critical, global perspective to the book’s exploration of violence and remembrance. Their shared commitments to community-based memorialization initiatives and to transnational feminist praxis have palpably shaped the curation of the vibrant, diverse feminist and queer artistic, activist, and scholarly perspectives that feature in this volume.
Memorializing Violence is not merely a scholarly work but a call to action. It underscores the importance of collective memory, the need for ongoing resistance to violence, and the transformative potential of grief. The book’s publication and launch serve as both a culmination of years of hard work and a catalyst for continued dialogue on how societies choose to remember and repair the wounds of the past.
The book is available for order from Rutgers University Press.