ABSTRACT
This paper explores the emotional aspects of memorial ceremonies at schools and underscores the power relations that are marshaled to mobilize certain emotions for particular versions of national memory. To show the entanglement of emotion and power, the paper is divided into two segments. The first is analytic-conceptual and theorizes school memorial ceremonies as vehicles of emotion and power in the formation of national memory; to this end, the author draws on the work of Foucault, Collins and Billig. The second part of the paper is empirical and draws on the author’s ethnographic research on emotion and national memory in Greek-Cypriot schools. The analysis shows not only how some emotions become ‘sedimented’ through ritual practices in schools and relations of power but also how emotions become contingent and challenge hegemonic versions of national memory.
