Abstract
This chapter focuses on the phenomenon of ‘commissions’ for the
recovery of human remains that have proliferated across Timor-Leste.
I argue that the commissions’ practices constitute forms of ‘nonstate
governmentality’ (de Cesari 2010, 625) that take the government’s valorisation
programme in unexpected directions. By working to exhume,
identify, and categorise the dead the commissions are, to some extent,
contributing to the state’s goal of dignifying martyrs. At the same time,
they are potentially enlarging the definition of martyrdom beyond the
state’s narrow interpretation. Ultimately, the commissions bring to light
the nation’s painful history and remind the state of its responsibility to
dignify all the nation’s martyrs.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | The Dead as Ancestors, Martyrs, and Heroes in Timor-Leste |
Editors | Lia Kent, Rui Graca Feijo |
Place of Publication | Amsterdam |
Publisher | Amsterdam University Press |
Pages | 283-304 |
Edition | 1 |
ISBN (Print) | 978 94 6372 431 9 |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |