ABSTRACT
Commemoration is a multimodal semiotic (including verbal) practice and – with respect to its purpose – an important political activity that serves the formation, reproduction and transformation of political identities. Typically, it is organised around the cyclical return of an occasion that relates to a meaningful moment in the past of a political community and its ‘lessons’ for the present and future. Commemoration involves the political dimension of polity, that is, the general framework for political action, including political culture, rules and values. With respect to this political dimension, commemoration primarily has an integrative function. However, it can also play a disintegrative role if negative experiences are recollected in order to stir up collective aversions towards an enemy.
