Mythology of the Authentic: Sacralization and Depoliticization of July 22 in Education
摘要
In this article the contributions of a Norwegian school competition organized by the 22. July Centre, a commemoration and learning centre located in Oslo, on commemorating the terror attack of 22. July is analysed, finding clear tendencies of sacralization related to a moral obligation of “never forgetting” and the ubiquitous use of religious symbolism and ritual elements. Drawing on previous research on the tendencies of sacralization in the memorialization and commemoration of the Holocaust (Mazal 2004), some similar features are prevalent in our empirical material. We also find an absence of references to the political aspects of the terror attacks, for example, the terrorist’s ideological motives. The memory of 22. July appears to become an ahistorical and depoliticized “trauma drama” (Alexander, European Journal of Social Theory 5:5–85, 2002). In light of the empirical findings, the chapter sheds critical light on the pedagogical and didactic implications.