Module six discussed many forms of activism, including creating a consciousness or awareness surrounding pain and mourning that results from a particular experience. This brought to mind spoken works as a form of mourning I have seen.
One form of awareness raising activism is the name readings that are undertaken to remember the victims of genocide. Raphael Lemkin’s is credited with coining the term “genocide” in 1944, and a number of Human Rights groups undertake name reading ceremonies in order to acknowledge the victims of genocides in Bosnia, Darfur, Rwanda, Armenia, Cambodia and the Holocaust. Typically undertaken for a 24 hour period, the ceremonies call on a number of volunteers to read a list of names aloud. The readings are facilitated by The Coalition for Preserving Memory at Duke, and the Coalition for Human Rights at UNC.
The readings demonstrate the capacity and importance of activism in a past context. Often activist work is associated with issues in a current context, but the adoption of a mourning and conscious lens shows the importance of remembering so as not to repeat, in this case, historical atrocities.
For more information about the movement on a global scale, look at the Together We Remember movement: http://togetherweremember.org/