Legacy work: three strategies of adversarial meaning-making of historical characters

Memory struggles over historical characters in contentious politics have often been framed as reputation struggles in which the valence of a character is disputed by adversarial groups. However, antagonist actors often invoke and appropriate the same revered character to endorse contradicting political goals. These struggles often revolve around a different dimension of the character's memory: the significance of the character's legacy. In this study, I examine three strategies employed to battle over the political legacy of Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas. I introduce the term Legacy Work to explain how actors in contentious politics transform or preserve the meaning of political legacies and provide a sociological answer to the question What would leaders of the past have us do today?

Automated summary

In contentious politics, memory struggles over historical characters often revolve around the significance of the character's legacy. The study examines three strategies used to battle over the political legacy of Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas, introducing the concept of "Legacy Work."