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Research Journal of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka- Rohana 12, 2020

important as a healing process. The collective remembering of the past affects the
current situation of the conflict (Atkinson et al., 1973).

The memory initiatives can be a great healer and an enabler of reconciliation, paving

ways and opportunities for dialogues, understanding, apologizing, acknowledging
and addressing the past violence between divided societies (Luhrmann, 2015). The

memorialization can play a role in truth-seeking, justice, reparations and
guaranteeing non-repetition. However, history is witnessed that the memorialization

has been manipulated to take the cultural memory of the hegemonic groups into the

climax. As Evans (1997) pointed out, "the cultural memory is constructed". The
erasure of the memory and the memorialization of 'the other' has been justified in the

ideological formations of the 'hegemonic'.

The memorialization has become an art in the present context; memorials occupy an

eternal place in the scenery of numerous countries. By definition, monuments have
been described as spaces "invested with meaning" that is set aside to remember

(Baddeley, 1997). In devising an explanation of the term "memorial," researchers
have been keen on noting that care must be taken to avoid incorrectly using the word

"memorial" in place of the word "monument" (Bajoria, 2016). According to Gough
(2016), what differentiates the two terms is the intent of preserving and

remembering that is accompanied by memorializing, while monuments usually

project celebratory sentiments. As a process, memorializing is marked by activities
and actions done to mourn and remember people, places, and things of importance

in society. As Bastian (2003) noted, these practices provide the opportunity for
people to "celebrate the lives of those who died, to mourn their passing, and to

inscribe memories of the deceased in the public consciousness."

The memorialization is a vital tool in addressing conflict situations where years of

repression, social inequality and injustice have created polarized communities. The
memory initiatives can be a great healer and an enabler of reconciliation, paving

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