Paper short abstract:

This paper scrutinises Liberia's national holiday calendar and its linkages to the politics of memory. Predominantly rooted in African Diaspora heritage, these state-endorsed memorializations are subject to contestation, (dis-) continuity and redefinition as a performance of socio-political change.

Paper long abstract:

National holidays function as pivotal cultural markers, condensed moments of nation-building (Lentz and Becker 2013), and time machines that carry significant meanings of the past in the present. Liberia, with its unique transnational history as one of the first African republics to gain independence as a settler colony in 1847, is still reckoning with its hotly contested national historiography, and state policies have yet to establish common ground for an inclusive national representation of Liberia's diverse heritage.

Profound socio-political transformations have led to contested, discontinued, and newly initiated commemorations. These shifts reflect evolving perspectives on belonging, nationhood, and the components of national culture—values, aesthetics, and ideologies represented in the national heritage canon. Public discourses, both digital and offline, call for a re-evaluation of the very notion of "national," considering the historical emphasis on predominantly African Diaspora heritage and narratives in the national agenda of memorialization.

Within a more and more globalized and mediatized world, the performance of national holidays through state-led commemoration remains central to the question: Whose heritage is represented and from which perspective? What are the implications for the politics of memory in Liberia and beyond?

Looking at the calendar in a broad sense what historical, religious, cultural, and political symbols and values, are significant for the nation's identity? What intersections exist between Mathilda Newport Day (discontinued since the 1980s), Joseph Jenkins Roberts' Birthday, and the commemoration of the "Bicentennial of the Transatlantic Returning" in 2022?