국가폭력 인정 과정과 배제의 중첩

초록

This study investigates the processes of recognition and exclusion embedded in the historical construction of the May 18 Democratic Uprising as state violence. Focusing on the oral life histories of second-generation bereaved families, it examines how personal memories that do not conform to the officially sanctioned public memory have been marginalized and silenced within both institutional and social frameworks. Drawing on in-depth interviews conducted as part of a research project commissioned by the May 18 Democratization Movement Truth Commission, the analysis centers on the lived experiences of children whose fathers were killed or incapacitated during the uprising. The findings reveal that these second-generation family members experienced the simultaneous absence of their fathers and the economic precarity caused by their mothers' forced entry into the labor market. These conditions led to extreme poverty, limited access to education, and long-lasting psychological and physical trauma. These memories, however, are excluded from the legal definition of "victims" they remain unacknowledged as part of counter-memory, and are thereby subjected to repeated layers of exclusion. Rather than treating these experiences as a mere accumulation of suffering, this study approaches them through a narrative framework. It illuminates how the construction of public memory privileges certain experiences as evidence of democratization while dismissing others as private or irrelevant, thereby reducing personal pain to the "sacrifice" required for democracy. This process obscures the voices of the second generation, rendering their life scars are invisible within the collective memory. By adopting a narrative approach, personal memories are understood not only as factual testimonies but also as stories that embody subjective interpretation and meaning-making. This perspective provides a pathway to integrate these marginalized experiences into collective memory, moving beyond the binary of public versus counter-memory. This study argues that a narrative understanding of memory enables the transformation of memory struggles into processes of healing and continuity, opening possibilities for overcoming state violence and fostering social reconciliation.

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