Conclusion: On Memory and Future Transitions

Abstract

This concluding chapter places the key insights from analysis of the Red Terror Martyrs Memorial Museum (RTMMM) into the context of a new political transition in Ethiopia on-going at the time of writing. Whether this transition will result in a more democratic country has yet to be determined. Analysis of the RTMMM cannot predict how multiple memories will play out in relation to new political claims in the current context, but it suggests that grappling with competing historical claims will be central to how Ethiopia navigates this new political moment. This chapter analyzes the current conjuncture in Ethiopian politics, in relation to the concept of memory from the margins developed across the book, and Jacques Rancière’s theorization of democracy. Memory from the margins reveals that the present moment was not inevitable, but is the contingency of what came to pass. Recognizing contingency opens space for making claims without an established “right” to do so, thereby contributing to an idea of the future that is likewise undetermined. The RTMMM presents a powerful argument that a museum’s place is precisely as ambiguous instigation to recognize the multiple histories that produced the present and define the possibility for a future that is open to new claims, and, while this is a necessary component of democratic practices, it offers no guarantees.