Denial, Hope and Transnational Affective Relations

Why did the ‘whole world’ look on during the atrocities in Indonesia in 1965, without ‘doing anything’ about the human rights abuses that were committed? I suggest that the solution to the political puzzle posed in this study—why the silences and denials relating to the memories of violent conflicts in Indonesia continue, despite an increased acceptance of global norms on transitional justice—requires us to pay attention to the transnational affective relations of victims, perpetrators and observers. Using the notion of implicated subjects, I argue for the importance of an intersectional approach in order to avoid universalizing the categories of victims, perpetrators and observers. Next, I develop the complexities of the notion of denial in order to avoid the universalizing of emotions and feelings at either individual or collective levels. I use ideas about affective dissonance to discuss gender and resistance to denials in transnational affective relations. Finally, I address how the results are relevant in transitional justice research, discourses, norms, measures and strategies and in research on the politics of memory and activism. I illustrate the argument with examples from the Indonesian novel Pulang [Home] by Leila S. Chudori (2012).