Public Spaces for National Commemoration: The Case of Emlotheni Memorial, Port Elizabeth

This article examines how commemorative projects try to deal with the past in the present in order to make possible the imagination of a united South African nation. It looks at how one commemorative site, Emlotheni Memorial, was intended to act as part of the larger nation‐building project in South Africa. Taking up issues of ancestral belief, social space, and recognition, this article examines how residents experienced the memorial as exclusive rather than inclusive. The article argues that the memorial site, rather than providing an opportunity for local residents and other South Africans to participate in building a shared history and identity, instead ended up reproducing the segregated past of South Africa.