liamstliam | A serious history post (Reply)

Several of my friends have been Blogging Against Torture.

One of them, ranjtheobscure, noted the passing on Dith Pran, who worked with Sidney Shaumberg of the New York Times in reporting "The Killing Fields" in Cambodia.

This got me thinking about something I mention a lot in my classes.

(My response to him is reposted here for those interested)

I think his death also brings up a point that is critical when thinking about memory and genocide/torture (or any other historical event, for that matter.

Within the next 10 years, for instance, the last people involved in the Armenian Massacre (on both sides) will be gone. There will be no one left with direct memory.

In 25 years, there will be no one left who actually experienced the Holocaust.

These are important points.

The following is from wikipedia, but it relates directly to Jim Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me" on this topic.

Sasha and Zamani are the two stages of death, according to some Eastern and Central African cultures. Sasha are spirits known by someone still alive, while Zamani are spirits not known by someone currently alive.

According to James Loewen in his book "Lies My Teacher Told Me:" "The recently departed whose time overlapped with people still here are the Sasha, the living dead. They are not wholly dead, for they live on in the memories of the living ... when the last person knowing an ancestor dies, that ancestor leaves the Sasha for the Zamani, the dead. As generalized ancestors, the Zamani are not forgotten but revered."