Committed to the Past: Memory Activists in Search of Dignity and Justice

Chapter 5 questions why the ‘memory activists’ are so committed to the past and what the emotional rupture narrative means to them. Their friendship ties with former nationalists and martyrs and their fears for modernity, make them long for a politically strong yet emotional history. They perceive a pluralist or settled, constructive narrative to create citizens who become unreceptive to danger. Citizens need to be prepared to fight for their nation, guarantee democracy, and ensure that history will not be repeated. Despite their seemingly radical worldview, the memory activists occupy a rather legitimized and credible position in society, due to their historical roots in human rights activism, their political ties, and the moderates among them who function as a bridge.

Fronteiras e Travessias:

This essay is a way to approach the migration process of Venezuelans to Brazil, through occasional visuals perceived by transiting on avenues and streets in the city of Boa Vista, capital of the state of Roraima. The objective is to organize in an array of images the meanings behind the borders and symbolic crossings about this phenomenon, comprehending the human displacements as dynamic, interactive and changeable processes, that do tell about others and, at the same time, about us. The frame of this constructive narrative is made in the visual inscription of Venezuelan immigrants in the city and the diverse fragments of this tense coexistence, by indicating situations of vulnerability of those who seek refuge in Brazil and the important hybrid and cultural appropriations in what nowadays presents itself as one of the most expressive migration phenomenon in the country.

The Image of the Ideal Monarch in the Tale of Duodecagon

A collection of Thai tales, derived from Persian Islam, narrates how the kings successfully deal with their ministers and subjects with their righteousness. In the narrative, the twelve-sided tomb of a king is discovered with the inscription of twelve stories, endowed with precepts and wise sayings on the art of ruling. This article discusses the Persian source of the work and analyses the content and theme of the story that mirrors the image of the ideal king in Thai culture and that of Persian Muslims as well. Also, the power of the constructive narrative is stressed in allowing stories to educate the reader or the listener.