scholarly journals Modern apocrypha as an example of cultural memory “in action”

2016 ◽  
pp. 10-31
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Jankowska

The aim of this paper is to analyze the role modern apocrypha play in the processes of collective remembering. From the perspective of cultural studies the modern apocrypha can be seen not only as literary or religious texts but also as an important element of cultural autocommunication. And if we understand autocommunication as a crucial mechanism of cultural memory, we can describe intertextuality (which is a form of cultural autocommunication) as an autoimmune technique of preventing the basic cultural meanings from the oblivion. The canon is a basic tool of collective memory in the so called ‘literate cultures’ or ‘Cultures of the Book’. That is the reason why the apocrypha, which deal with canonical contents, build the unique set of texts playing an essential role in protecting the source myth and tradition from the ‘semiotic death’.

Author(s):  
Orsolya Száraz

The Institute of Hungarian Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Debrecen formed a research group in 2010 in order to launch the research of Hungarian realms of memory. This paper was written within the frameworks of the research group. Its basic hypothesis is that the identification of Hungary as the Bastion of Christendom is an established part of Hungarian collective memory. This paper attempts to demonstrate the changes of this realm of memory, regarding its meaning and function, from its formation up to the present day.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 352-364
Author(s):  
Natalia G. Fedotova

The article is devoted to the discourse of the city’s cultural memory. The relevance of studying this topic is determined not only by the fundamental aspect associated with the episodicity of existing studies of this phenomenon. From an applied point of view, the city’s cultural memory is a symbolic resource that can be used to create an appealing image, form a sustainable urban identity, and strengthen the citizen’s sense of belonging to the city. The accumulation and objectification of cultural memory take place in symbolic forms, which makes it important to study the practices of symbolizing the urban past, the essence of which is to generate the significance of the relevant or latent layers of cultural memory for the citizens.The article presents the results of the final stage of research related to the study of the process of constructing the cultural memory of the city. The purpose of the article is to analyze modern practices of symbolizing fragments of the urban past, which mean their significance for contemporaries. Basing on the culturological cross-section of the issue, the author integrates different research contexts. The methodological basis of the article is the communicative approach that focuses on the processes of meaning formation, and the constructivist method that considers memory as a multi-layered and dynamic construct. Analyzing the practices of symbolizing the urban past by the example of Russian cities, the author of the article demonstrates how the episodes of the city’s memory are updated in the modern world, how cultural meanings become memorable for citizens. The author uses the results of previous studies and identifies the following elements of the symbolization of the urban past: a) ways of encoding fragments of the past; b) communicative trajectories of memory symbolization; c) factors of producing meanings about the collective past of the city. The obtained results open up new frontiers in understanding the processes of formation of the collective ideas about the city, and prospects for empirical research, forecasting and constructing the cultural memory of Russian cities, giving them the opportunity to change their present and future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-30
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Jankowska

The role the canon plays in culture will be discussed in the paper. The canon can be seen as one of the most important media of cultural memory, a kind of cultural grammar or a vital semantic resource which influences a huge amount of new texts. This sort of textual variations on the canon may be considered secondary cultural mnemotechniques; in the same way intertextuality may be interpreted as a tool of active remembering. From the perspective of the semiotics of culture the above-mentioned canon-based hypertexts serve not only as memory-devices but as examples of cultural autocommunication as well. While religion as one of the most crucial „cultural systems” (Geertz) influences a lot of other subsystems of the semiosphere (Lotman), intertextual relations to the canon of religious texts vitalize the hypotext and create the whole set of new meanings, strengthening semiosis and dynamizing culture at the same time.


Politeja ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2(65)) ◽  
pp. 189-204
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Marcol

The Role of Language in Releasing from Inherited Traumas. Negotiations of the Social Position of the Silesian Minority in Serbian Banat The aim of the paper is to show the dependence between language, collective memory (also post-memory) and sense of identity. This issue is analysed using the example of an ethnic minority living in the village of Ostojićevo (Banat, Serbia) called ‘Toutowie.’ Their ancestors came in the 19th century from Wisła (Silesian Cieszyn, Poland); they left their homes because of great hunger and were looking for jobs in Banat. Narratives about the past contain traumatic experiences of the past generations transmitted in the Silesian dialect and constituting communicative memory. At the same time, a new Polish national identity is being constructed, supported by institutions and authorities; it carries a new image of the world and creates a new cultural memory. This new identity – shaped on the basis of national categories – leads to changes of its self-identification and gives the opportunity to raise its social position in the multi-ethnic Banat community.


Author(s):  
Nele Bemong

Between 1830 and 1850, practically out of nowhere there came into beinga truly 'Belgian' literature, written boch in Flemish and in French, but aimedat a single goal: the creation of a Belgian past and the conscruction of aBelgian national identity. The historical novel played a crucial role in thisconscruction and representation of a collective memory for the Belgian statejust out of the cradle. The prefaces to these historical novels are characterizedboth by the central role granted to the representacion of Flanders as the cradleof nineteenth-century Belgium, and by the organically and religiously inspiredimagery. Attempts were made to create an intimate genealogical relationshipwith the forefathers, in order to make the Belgian citizens feel closer to theirrich heritage. Through the activation of specific recollections from theimmense archive of the collective cultural memory, Belgian independencefound its legitimization both towards the international community andtowards the Belgian people.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arfiansyah

This article argues that Gayonese community practice Islam through the culture and less concern with religious texts. Although the wave of islamization since the colonial time and post-independence was high, the process does not succeed in introducing what the local scholars called as Islamic tradition. Such situation forces the following ulama to defend culture by finding justification for every practice instead of abolishing it. There are two factors leading to the situation. First, ulama of colonial and post-colonial time did not succeed in finding what they called as Islamic tradition replacing the existing tradition. second, lacking of regeneration of reformer Ulama that drive the living reformer ulama to support culture by inserting Islamic values and norms into the culture. This effort is crucial as the Gayonese refers more to the culture than the religious texts. This Article historically studies the development of Islam in Gayonese community. It frames its historical analysis from the Dutch colonial period to post independence of Indonesia Republic. It generally observes the impact of islamization in the past to the current situation. This article brings back the fundamental question in socio-anthropological studies about Islam that why do Muslim who refer to same source of text understand and practice Islam in widely various expression. The question is applied to this research exploring the development of Islam in Gayonese community inhabiting Central Aceh and Bener Meriah District. Thus, this research questions how did Islam develop in colonial time and its impact to the local culture? did there a debate about religion and culture take place during the colonial time and post-independence of Indonesia?  How does the past event affect the current practice of Islam in Gayonese community? the questions are explored historically by collecting relevant literatures and collective memory of the local people. The collective memory data were collected from 2015 to 2019


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura M. F. Bertens

Abstract This paper explores strategies for constructing and perpetuating cultural memory through music videos, using Beyonce’s Formation (2016) and Janelle Monae’s Many Moons (2008) and Q.U.E.E.N. (2013) as case studies. The medium’s idiosyncrasies create unique ways of communicating and remembering, explored here within a framework of Cultural Studies and Memory Studies. Easy dissemination and the limited length of most videos ensure a large, diverse audience. The relative freedom from narrative constraints enables the director to create original imagery, and most importantly, the medium allows an intricate blending of performance and performativity; while the videos evidently are performances, they are strongly performative as well, not only with respect to gender and ethnicity but in significant ways also cultural memory. A close reading of Beyonce’s video Formation shows how she explicitly does the cultural memory of the New Orleans flooding. The videos by Monae are shown to produce counter-memories, relying heavily on the strategy of Afrofuturism. As such, these densely woven networks of visual symbols become palimpsests of black lived experience and cultural memory, passed on to millions of viewers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olaf Krysowski ◽  
Natalia Szerszeń

The book, which shows the works of Juliusz Słowacki from the perspective of cultural memory, belongs to memory studies. It aims to follow the relations between memory, reminiscence and commemoration, as well as to describe the relations and interdependencies between individual and collective memory, memory, biography and history in the poet’s works. The authors, in an innovative and multi-faceted manner, reconstruct ideas, formulas and notions, which develop a sui generis philosophy of memory in Słowacki’s works.


Author(s):  
Agata Bachórz ◽  
Fabio Parasecoli

This article examines the future-oriented use of the culinary past in Poland’s food discourse through a qualitative analysis of popular food media (printed magazines and TV). We analyze how interpretations of food and culinary practices from the past are connected to contemporary debates. We contend that media representations of the culinary past co-create projects of Polish modernization in which diverse voices vie for hegemony by embracing different forms of engagement with the West and by imagining the future shape of the community. We distinguish between a pragmatic and a foodie type of culinary capital and focus on how they differently and at times paradoxically frame cultural memory and tradition. We observe the dynamics of collective memory and oblivion, and assess how interpretations of specific periods in Poland’s past are negotiated in the present through representations of material culture and practices revolving around food, generating not only contrasting evaluations of the past but also diverging economies of the future. Finally, we explore tradition as a set of present-day values, attitudes, and practices that are connected with the past, but respond to current concerns and visions of the future.


Author(s):  
Simon Wendt

The introduction discusses the historiography of the DAR and summarizes the study’s findings. It also explains how theories on nationalism, gender, and memory enhance our understanding of the organization’s ideology and activism. Many of the organization’s commemorative rituals would not have been possible without the cooperation of local communities, suggesting that the Daughters confirmed and strengthened existing ideas about gender, race, and the nation among many white citizens. Most importantly, it introduces Egyptologist Jan Assmann’s conceptual distinction between “communicative memory” and “cultural memory,” arguing that it can help historians better understand the tensions and intricate connections between elite and vernacular memories of the nation. These two modes of memory, persevered by many political and historical groups such as the DAR, are inextricably entangled because the memories of families, towns, regions, and the nation tend to be connected with and are fused into what is presented as the coherent collective memory of one single imagined community.


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