Collective Memory and the Stakes of Power. A Reading of Popular Zairian Historical Discourses

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 195-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogumil Jewsiewicki
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
Collective Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Code ◽  
The Past ◽  
Legitimate Power ◽  
Basic Facts ◽  
Historical Discourses ◽  
The Relationship

For me collective memory is neither a narrative nor collective knowledge of the past (a sort of historical consensus). Contrary to past accounts, be they public or private, memory does not have a narrative form and is thus not of the literary kind (oral or written). Collective memory is above all a semantic code of memorization and of rememorization; it is, as well, a hierarchy of values which structures a discourse in the past while rooting it in the present. Collective memory gives meaning to the past and bears in mind certain places, facts, dates, and persons around which the memory or memories which also legitimate power build themselves. The relationship between a particular remembrance and its basic facts finds its prime meaning here. In this sense collective memory supports and rationalizes collective identity and, contrary to social fiction, offers a “definitive” reading as it bears on real, even though elapsed, relationships. Collective memory thus rejoins and often reinforces fiction and supports role and behavioral stereotypes, etc.“En ce temps là le roi regardant dans sa maison à Bruxelles il étudiait les nouvelles venant de l'Afrique et dans ses nouvelles plusieurs tribus ont montré que les vivres et les matériaux de travail (n'arrivaient) pas à temps après l'expédition de l'Europe et le Roi Léopold II jetta un coup d'oeil sur l'Atlas (carte géographique) du pays et il dit: on trouvera la route pour faire passer les matériaux de travail, un racourci pour faire le chemin de fer rapidement pour que je puisse envoyer plus rapidement les matériaux en Afrique ainsi on aura pas besoins de porteurs.

scholarly journals Museum Collections as a Reflection of Cultural Landscape: the Interpretation of Collective Memory

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oskar Habjanič ◽  
Verena Perko
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Cultural Landscape ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Tasks ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Private Collections

The article deals with the relationship between the local community, museum collections, collective memory and the cultural landscape. The ICOM Code of Museum Ethics defines a museum collection as a cultural and natural heritage of the communities from which they have been derived. The collections, especially in regional museums, are inextricably linked to the community. The cultural landscape can be read also as a bridge between the society and natural environment. The cultural landscape is vitally connected with a national, regional, local, ethnic, religious or political identity. Furthermore, the cultural landscape is a reflection of the community's activities. Therefore, private collections are the foundation of the collective memory and empower museums for important social tasks. They offer an opportunity for multilayered interpretation of the past and give a possibility for museums to work on the inclusion of vulnerable groups. The collections could be a mediator and unique tool for recovering of the “broken” memory. In this way certain tragic past events, ignored or only bigotedly mentioned by history, can be re-evaluated.

‘Till the whisper…You know…When you can't hear the words’: Narrated Memory and the ‘Fragmented’ Body in Samuel Beckett's Late Drama

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-155
Author(s):  
Michelle Charalambous
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
The Body ◽  
Narrative Form ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Late Works

Samuel Beckett's interest in the experience of memory and the central role the body plays in the re-experience of the past has been most evident since the time he composed Krapp's Last Tape (1958), one of his most famous memory plays where the body can actually ‘touch’ its voice of memory. In this context, the present article provides a close reading of two of Beckett's late works for the theatre, namely That Time (1976) and Ohio Impromptu (1981), where the author once again addresses the relationship between the body and memory. Unlike his earlier drama, however, in That Time and Ohio Impromptu Beckett creates a ‘distance’, as it were, between memory and the body on stage by presenting the former as a narrative and by reducing the latter to an isolated part or by restricting it to limited movements. Looking closely at this ‘distance’ in these late plays, the article underlines that the body does not lose its authority or remains passive in its re-experience of the past. Rather – the article argues – the body essentially plays a determining role in these stripped-down forms as is shown in its ability to ‘interrupt’ and somatically punctuate the fixity of the narrative form memory takes in these works.

About benefits and harms of rewriting history. One of the topics of contemporary historical discourses: philosophical analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol - (2) ◽  
pp. 142-164
Author(s):  
Roman Zimovets
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Identity Transformation ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rewriting History ◽  
Historical Discourses ◽  
Global Communications

When we talk about historical revisionism, negative connotations as a rule are prevailing. Prohibition of revision of certain historical interpretation and assessment is one of the tasks of historical policy which is carried out by adopting so-called «memorial laws». Taking care of the formation of the desired representations of the past (narratives) is directly related to the interests of institutionalized power in its own stabilization and strengthening. Power is a function of the community, whose identity is formed historically. Consolidation of collective identity through the support and reproduction of common representations of the past is one of the tools to strengthen power. At the same time, the very nature of human experience acquisition which is permanent mediation of the horizon of the past and the present, presuppose a reinterpretation of this past. Major shifts in the experience of generations, which occur as a result of certain social changes, lead to a new look at the past of the community. In this sense, rethinking and rewriting history becomes necessary to clarify, update, rationalize the collective identity, which is problematized by new experience. Historical policy can both respond to this need for identity transformation through re- thinking representations of one’s own past and come into conflict with it. In the latter case, the narratives transferring by institutional power begin to conflict with the communicative memory of the generation experiencing a shift. One of the tools of self-preservation of power in this situation is blocking of living historical experience, which can take various forms. The culmination of such a blockade is «hermetization» of historical time that take place in totalitarian state. The living historicity of experience, which requires a constant rethinking of one’s own historically inherited identity, is replaced by an artificial, time-frozen identity, which, precisely because of this nature, becomes fragile and doomed to destruction. On the other hand, the rewriting of history initiated by the authorities within the framework of historical policy may face resistance to the representations of the past rooted in the communicative and cultural memory. The resistance of historical narratives indicates that the collective memory and the identity founded in it are not only a power construct, but also a spontaneous layering of sediments of historical experience. In today’s world of global communications and unified everyday practices, historical narratives are beginning to play an increasing role, as they remain the only seat of identity. At the same time, this process reinforces the conflict potential of communities, which can be observed in many examples of the revival of historically motivated political ambitions. In this situation, a critical clarification of various interpretations of the past becomes a means of rationalizing the historically inherited identity of communities as a necessary condition for intercultural dialogue.

Collective Memory

Sociology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Simko
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emile Durkheim ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Memory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Borders ◽  
Monuments And Memorials ◽  
The Relationship

Collective memory encompasses both the shared frameworks that shape and filter ostensibly “individual” or “personal” memories and representations of the past sui generis, including official texts, commemorative ceremonies, and physical symbols such as monuments and memorials. Sociological work on collective memory traces its origins to Émile Durkheim and his student, Maurice Halbwachs. In the United States, the contemporary sociology of memory coalesced in the 1980s and 1990s, after Barry Schwartz brought renewed attention to Durkheim’s focus on commemoration as well as Halbwachs’s interest in how the past is reconstructed in the present, in the service of present needs, interests, and desires. Though this line of research initially emphasized heroic pasts—particularly national commemorations that bolstered state legitimacy with reference to triumphant episodes—scholars quickly began to address the ways that collectivities grapple with “difficult pasts,” or episodes that evoke shame, regret, and/or dissensus, and that threaten to “spoil” national identity. What is the relationship between memory and forgetting, and related concepts such as silence and denial? Can the increasingly pervasive language of “trauma” help us understand the current preoccupation with difficult pasts in both scholarly literature and public culture? More recently, scholars have critiqued the field’s overwhelming focus on national memory from two angles. First, studies of micro-level memories have revived Halbwachs’s initial interest in the social frameworks that structure (seemingly) individual memories. Second, globalization facilitates connectedness and identification beyond and/or outside of national frames of reference, and thus scholars have pointed to the emergence of “cosmopolitan” memories that create community and solidarity beyond and outside formal political borders.

When a historical analogy fails: Current political events and collective memory contestation in the news

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis LF Lee ◽  
Joseph Man Chan ◽  
Dennis KK Leung
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Historical Analogy ◽  
The Relationship

Collective memory studies have emphasized how people can utilize important historical events as analogies to make sense of current happenings. This article argues that the invocation of historical analogies may, under certain circumstances, become an occasion for people to negotiate and contest the significance of the historical events. Focusing on Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement in 2014, this article analyzes how references to the 1989 Tiananmen Incident emerged in the news as a dominant historical analogy when the movement began, foregrounding the possibility of state violence. But when state violence did not materialize, the authorities, young protesters, and radical activists started to contest the relevance of Tiananmen. The analogy was largely abandoned by the movement’s end. The analysis illustrates the recursive character of the relationship between past and present events: after the past is invoked to aid interpretations of the present, present developments may urge people to reevaluate the past.

scholarly journals History and memory

wisdom ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-70
Author(s):  
Davit Mosinyan
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
History And Memory ◽  
Close Interaction ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Discourses ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This paper discusses the issue of the relationship of history and memory. Memory becomes a topic in historical discourses as it deals with identity, especially when we speak of collective memory. The paper presents the history of the relationship of history and memory and suggests a thesis according which the close interaction between these two concepts can solve the crisis of identity that has been most urgent in our days.

scholarly journals Between Individual Memory and Social Memory. What Do People in Poland Remember About 1989?

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Aneta Ostaszewska
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Social Memory ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Individual Memory ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

30 years have passed since the events of 1989 that led to the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. In the paper the themes of social memory of political transformation in Poland in 1989 are discussed. The content of online statements collected from popular Polish news portals are analysed. When asking the question what events and experiences do Poles bring back when they think of 1989, I am interested in the relationship between the individual (biographical) memory and collective memory – the socially reconstructed knowledge of the past.

Collective Memory and Journalism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanja Bosch
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Visual Memory ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
The Past ◽  
Memory Work ◽  
Interdisciplinary Field ◽  
Cultural Sites ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Journalistic Practice

The relationship between the practice and field of journalism and the interdisciplinary field of memory studies is complex and multifaceted. There is a strong link between collective memory production and journalistic practice, based on the proposition that journalists produce first drafts of history by using the past in their reportage. Moreover, the practice of journalism is a key agent of memory work because it serves as one of society’s main mechanisms for recording and remembering, and in doing so helps shape collective memory. Journalism can be seen as a memory text, with journalists constructing news within cultural-interpretive frames according to the cultural environment. Journalism also plays a key role in the production of visual memory and new media, including social media. Journalism is thus a key agent of memory work, providing a space for commentary on institutional and cultural sites of memory construction.

scholarly journals Memories of cinemagoing and film experience: An introduction

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Kuhn ◽  
Daniel Biltereyst ◽  
Philippe Meers
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Methodological Issues ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Film ◽  
Film Experience ◽  
Future Work ◽  
The Relationship

Over the past two decades, the relationship between cinema and memory has been the object of increasing academic attention, with growing interest in film and cinema as repositories for representing, shaping, (re)creating or indexing forms of individual and collective memory. This Special Issue on memory and the experience of cinemagoing centres on the perspective of cinema users and audiences, focusing on memories of films, cinema and cinemagoing from three continents and over five decades of the twentieth century. This introduction considers the relationship between memory studies and film studies, sets out an overview of the origins of, and recent and current shifts and trends within, research and scholarship at the interface between historical film audiences, the cinemagoing experience and memory; and presents the articles and reviews which follow within this frame. It considers some of the methodological issues raised by research in these areas and concludes by looking at some of the challenges facing future work in the field.

scholarly journals RURAL ARCHITECTURE AND SUSTAINABILITY: LEARNING FROM THE PAST

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Ilker Fatih Ozorhon ◽  
Guliz Ozorhon
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Vernacular Architecture ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
The Past ◽  
Living Environments ◽  
Basic Facts ◽  
Rural Architecture ◽  
Context Of Learning ◽  
Methods Of Learning ◽  
The Relationship

Traditional rural living environments have the potential to be instructive in numerous ways. Rural settlements, which are often created with a minimum of effort and have been around for thousands of years, can be a template for living environments of tomorrow. Starting off with that proposition, this paper goes on to emphasize the importance of examining the characteristics of traditional rural settlements in the context of sustainability. The article aims to analyze and thus improve our understanding of rural settlements, and in the process of doing so, it produces and reproduces knowledge within the field of sustainability. A model consisting of multiple layers was applied through the sampling of a particular rural-traditional settlement (Taraklı), thereby shedding light on the relationship between the settlement and the parameters of environmental sustainability. In that model, three main methods of learning from traditional architecture were proposed: (1) Learning From Vernacular Architecture (LF-VA) through existing settlements; (2) Learning From Experience (LF-E) through those who have learned from vernacular approaches; and, (3) Learning from Research (LF-R). Through the use of that model, the data obtained constitutes a holistic pool of information. The basic facts articulated in this pool are models, concepts and theories, and the prominent concepts include documentation, conservation, adaptation and innovation. As a result of the analysis based on the model, the relationship of the physical characteristics of the rural-traditional settlement exemplified in the article with the environmental sustainability parameters has been illustrated systematically. In the literature, the products of rural architecture generally exist with identification and documentation studies. In this article, the relationship between rural architecture and sustainability is discussed in the context of learning from the past and it is shown through an existing settlement.  

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