Confronting a Divided Past for a Shared Future: The Lieux de Mémoire of the Altab Ali Park in London

Abstract

This paper deals with the Altab Ali Park and its significance in regards to the Muslim community in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. Using Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux de Mémoire, I would like to demonstrate how the Bangladeshi Muslim minority and the rest of the community of Tower Hamlets construct their collective memory through the transformation of the park. The article argues that the Altab Ali Park is in Pierre Nora's term a lieu de Mémoire with a multiple layers, which has been developed to enhance community cohesion in the Borough. The park itself contains further lieux de mémoire with clear messages against extremist secular and religious ideologies. This makes the park a symbol of multicultural coexistence in the district, which could help increase community cohesion through shaping the identity of the inhabitants of Tower Hamlets.