ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the kinds of transnational memory discourses which eventually were established as the 'truth' of South Africa's histories of violence and thus determine how South Africans should think about and deal with their own histories. Two discourses in particular have been prominent in the national memory stories in the South African context. Both discourses travel to the South African context through the global channels of post-conflict memory discourses. These memory stories are further situated within a global and local politics which open up certain identity spaces and close down others. The first of these is the narrative of reconciliation discourse which draws on global discourse of trauma and healing and produces the 'victim' identity. The second is the narrative of the national liberation struggle discourse which draws on the global demobilization discourse and creates the 'veteran' identity. The chapter focuses on two important discourses of nationalism: the discourse of reconciliation and the discourse of national liberation.
