ABSTRACT
Memory encroachments are sites of memory whose central goal is to intrude or intervene upon the daily life of passersby. Unlike traditional forms of memorialization, which utilize scale or recognizable architectural forms to declare themselves publicly, to make themselves known, memory encroachments do not call attention to themselves so obviously. Most people do not make special plans to visit these spaces, nor do their designers necessarily intend for them to be destinations in themselves. Rather, in most cases, they are sites that one happens upon on the way to other things not related to remembering the past. This chapter examines how memory encroachments create alternative cartographies of the spaces inhabited by citizens of post-atrocity societies. They at once make visible a cartography of violence that underlies their daily existence, while simultaneously mapping a new cartography of memory. They open up spaces of historical dialogue within post-atrocity societies through which memory of the past may become a more active player in making decisions in the present and future. In doing so, they open the potential to transform passive spectators into active agents in a prevention infrastructure that exceeds the halls of government, literally filling the streets.
