Summary

The section titled “Just Forgetting” summarizes and restates Nguyen’s arguments about the role forgetting plays in memory. He states that we must both remember and forget in order to live; too much of either is fatal. In the process, however, we often engage in unjust forgetting. Just forgetting is dependent on both just memory and genuine forgiveness, both of which are utopian ideals. Despite this, we should engage in just forgetting as much as possible. Nguyen notes that, unlike most people, refugees cannot forget the war that created their situation. They are plagued by a constant desire to return to their country. Refugees can also force others to remember them by creating art like the Chas’ Hmong story cloth, a map showing where Hmong refugees were forced to settle throughout the world.

Nguyen states explicitly that just memory requires three things: the...