ARI Working Paper Series

This paper examines the vexed and sensitive issues of collective memory and trauma in post-tsunami, post-conflict Aceh in Indonesia. It shows how Aceh’s provincial capital of Banda Aceh is a city of remembrance as well as of amnesia, and identifies common and fragmented threads in the retelling of stories about this city’s turbulent recent history. The paper explores how collective memories have been created differently according to whether the twofold traumas of the conflict and tsunami were experienced directly or indirectly. It also shows how collective memories of traumatic events have sown the seeds of new forms of Acehnese identity while challenging and reinforcing elements of the pre-existing identity. Finally, the paper reflects on the role of public remembrance in Banda Aceh in the memorialisation of trauma.