Centennial hauntings: Reckoning with the 2005 celebration of Alberta’s history

In 2005, the Western Canadian province of Alberta celebrated the centennial anniversary of its entry into Confederation. The prevailing discourse of the centennial was characterized by celebration through pride in the past and the opportunities of a bright future. Notably absent from the centennial focus was the present: particularly, the incoherencies and troubling events of a present marked by colonial violence and its legacy. Questioning this apparent absent present in the centennial remembrance, the authors trace the limits of the prevailing discourse in its address to Aboriginality and a legacy of colonialism. They then juxtapose the centenary with concurrent events of violent loss, arguing that such events haunt the centennial remembrance strategy. As critics of social memory, the authors argue for a conceptual practice of reckoning with histories and their haunting legacies as a mode of learning how to live in relation to unsettled pasts, for a present that may be otherwise.