Abstract
Hannah Arendt has become one of the most influential contemporary political philosophers. Her work is called upon today to inform debates on political freedom, civil disobedience and statelessness. It is therefore surprising that her voice is nearly absent in discussions on the important issue of memory politics. The insights that Arendt can bring to these discussions have not yet been recognised for two reasons. She never formulated a systematic philosophy of history and memory. And, secondly, there exists an unresolved tension in her reflections on these subjects. I aim, first, to articulate a comprehensive understanding of Arendt's concepts of remembrance and history and, secondly, to bring these insights to bear on contemporary discussions on memory politics. I will use the concepts and themes of memory studies to bring focus and structure to the fragmented and scattered reflections on history and remembrance in the work of Arendt. By confronting Arendt's views on history and memory with concepts such as individual and collective memory, collective identity and social frameworks, I aim to bring Arendt's theory of remembrance into focus and make it relevant for discussions on memory politics. My research project strives for a cross fertilization between Arendt and the field of memory studies: the conceptual framework of memory studies serves as a heuristic aid for articulating Arendt's theory of remembrance which in turn can shed new light on the politics of memory.
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