The Role of Memory Policy in Building National Identity
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Collective Memory from a Psychological Perspective
Int J Polit Cult Soc (2009) 22:125–141 DOI 10.1007/s10767-009-9057-9 Collective Memory from a Psychological Perspective Alin Coman & Adam D. Brown & Jonathan Koppel & William Hirst Published online: 26 May 2009 # Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009 Abstract The study of collective memory has burgeoned in the last 20 years, so much so that one can even detect a growing resistance to what some view as the imperialistic march of memory studies across the social sciences (e.g., Berliner 2005;Fabian1999). Yet despite its clear advance, one area that has remained on the sidelines is psychology. On the one hand, this disinterest is surprising, since memory is of central concern to psychologists. On the other hand, the relative absence of the study of collective memory within the discipline of psychology seems to suit both psychology and other disciplines of the social sciences, for reasons that will be made clear. This paper explores how psychology might step from the sidelines and contribute meaningfully to discussions of collective memory. It reviews aspects of the small literature on the psychology of collective memoryandconnectsthisworktothelargerscholarly community’sinterestincollectivememory. Keywords Social contagion . Memory restructuring . Collective memory . Collective forgetting General Comments Contextualizing the Study of Collective Memory Why not has psychology figured prominently in discussions of collective memory? For those in social science fields other than psychology, the methodological individualism of The first three authors contributed equally to this paper. The order in which they are listed reflects the throw of a die. A. Coman : J. Koppel : W. Hirst (*) The New School for Social Research, New York, NY 10011, USA e-mail: [email protected] A. -
Constructions and Instrumentalization of the Past: a Comparative Study on Memory Management in the Region
CBEES State of the Region Report 2020 Constructions and Instrumentalization of the Past A Comparative Study on Memory Management in the Region Published with support from the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies (Östersjstiftelsen) Constructions and Instrumentalization of the Past A Comparative Study on Memory Management in the Region December 2020 Publisher Centre for Baltic and East European Studies, CBEES, Sdertrn University © CBEES, Sdertrn University and the authors Editor Ninna Mrner Editorial Board Joakim Ekman, Florence Frhlig, David Gaunt, Tora Lane, Per Anders Rudling, Irina Sandomirskaja Layout Lena Fredriksson, Serpentin Media Proofreading Bridget Schaefer, Semantix Print Elanders Sverige AB ISBN 978-91-85139-12-5 4 Contents 7 Preface. A New Annual CBEES Publication, Ulla Manns and Joakim Ekman 9 Introduction. Constructions and Instrumentalization of the Past, David Gaunt and Tora Lane 15 Background. Eastern and Central Europe as a Region of Memory. Some Common Traits, Barbara Trnquist-Plewa ESSAYS 23 Victimhood and Building Identities on Past Suffering, Florence Frhlig 29 Image, Afterimage, Counter-Image: Communist Visuality without Communism, Irina Sandomirskaja 37 The Toxic Memory Politics in the Post-Soviet Caucasus, Thomas de Waal 45 The Flag Revolution. Understanding the Political Symbols of Belarus, Andrej Kotljarchuk 55 Institutes of Trauma Re-production in a Borderland: Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania, Per Anders Rudling COUNTRY BY COUNTRY 69 Germany. The Multi-Level Governance of Memory as a Policy Field, Jenny Wstenberg 80 Lithuania. Fractured and Contested Memory Regimes, Violeta Davoliūtė 87 Belarus. The Politics of Memory in Belarus: Narratives and Institutions, Aliaksei Lastouski 94 Ukraine. Memory Nodes Loaded with Potential to Mobilize People, Yuliya Yurchuk 106 Czech Republic. -
Migratory Psychoanalysis Michael P
Migratory psychoanalysis MICHAEL P. STEINBERG Brown University In September 2004 I participated in a conference in La plata, Argentina, on the topic of “the State and the politics of Memory: Archives, Museums, and Education.”1 the conference was convened by the comisión provincial por la Memoria, an authority commissioned in 2000 by the provincial government of Buenos Aires (whose capital is La plata) with the task of developing a public and comparative discourse of Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung, or coming to terms with the past. the Argentine past in question is the military regime that held power between 1976 and 1983, unleashing a campaign of state terrorism responsible for the murder of 30,000 citizens, with a severe overrepresentation, in increasing order, of youth, secondary school and university students, and Jews. the city of La plata boasts an important university; as a result, the violence there was especially severe. the comisión por la Memoria is housed in a former police headquarters known to the citizens of La plata as a site of torture and other hor- rors. Its task includes the preservation and dissemination of the archive of the state security forces (dIpBA), containing 3,800,000 files as well as other materials, including, for example, 160 recordings of bugged telephone conversations.2 to my surprise and, I must confess, to my relief, the large public audience proved quite interested in the topic of my own contribution: discourses and sites of public memory and history in Berlin. As it turns out, a delegation from the comisión por la Memoria was about to travel to Berlin to consult with analogous scholars and archivists there, specifically with the archivists of the Stasi files. -
The 2015 Auschwitz-Trial of Lüneburg
Human Rights III, Spring 2016 Astrid Juckenack (930613-T005) The 2015 Auschwitz-trial of Lüneburg: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Collective Memory of the Holocaust in Nazi-trials in Modern-day Germany. Author: Astrid Juckenack Malmö Högskola Human Rights III; MR106L Spring 2016 Supervisor: Malin Isaksson 1 Human Rights III, Spring 2016 Astrid Juckenack (930613-T005) Abstract The points of departure in this thesis are the reciprocal relationship between the memories of human rights violations, the application of the relevant law and the understanding of what is criminal, as well as the recent trend in German courts to belatedly try low-profile Nazi- criminals. To explore these phenomena further, a critical discourse analysis incorporating historical elements is conducted on the 2015 trial of “the bookkeeper of Auschwitz” Oskar Gröning and the related media-reports. By identifying and investigating the expression of collective memory therein, a shift is revealed in that low-level participation in the Holocaust is no longer remembered as a moral infringement exclusively, but accepted as a criminal act for which a perpetrator ought to be held liable. Alongside Holocaust-focused collective memory, there are further tendencies toward a distinct memory of the prolonged failure of the German judiciary. It was thus found that long-term societal change can prevail against a deeply ingrained culture of impunity. Keywords: human rights, collective memory, Holocaust, Germany, Auschwitz, Auschwitz trial, Oskar Gröning, SS, accessory to murder, impunity Wordcount: 16,497 words 2 Human Rights III, Spring 2016 Astrid Juckenack (930613-T005) Table of Contents Abstract 2 Abbreviations 6 1. Introduction 7 1.1 Introduction to the Problem Area 7 1.2 Research Problem, -Questions and –Aim 8 1.3 Relevance for the Field of Human Rights 9 1.4 Delimitations 9 1.5 Ethical Considerations 10 1.6 Disposition 10 2. -
History on the Crossroads of Nation-Building
Paper from the Conference “Current Issues in European Cultural Studies”, organised by the Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden (ACSIS) in Norrköping 15-17 June 2011. Conference Proceedings published by Linköping University Electronic Press: http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp_home/index.en.aspx?issue=062. © The Author. Memory of the Past and Memory for the Future: History on the Crossroads of Nation-building Yuliya Yurchuk Södertörn University College / Stockholm University [email protected] The paper focuses on the nationalisation of history and changes in memory politics of Ukraine after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The questions of history re-writing and re-evaluating is endemic to transitional societies. The very possibility to approach certain events is a direct consequence of freedom of speech that followed the disintegration of the socialist bloc. As a case study the paper scrutinizes new conceptualisations and interpretations of history of the WWII with a special focus on Ukrainian nationalist movements that acted in Western Ukraine in 1929-1956: the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Insurgent Army. There have been constant attempts to place the heroic narrative about these movements into the core of a national history, yet this narrative failed to cross the invisible walls within Ukraine and the narrative purposed for the whole nation remains regional in its significance. The paper is to fill the gap in an existing debate and to show how complex the memory work is in the modern world. A lot of interferences on international, regional, and local levels make the representational take-over of a state-sanctioned view on history more difficult and complex. -
Memory-Modulation: Self-Improvement Or Self-Depletion?
HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY published: 05 April 2018 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00469 Memory-Modulation: Self-Improvement or Self-Depletion? Andrea Lavazza* Neuroethics, Centro Universitario Internazionale, Arezzo, Italy Autobiographical memory is fundamental to the process of self-construction. Therefore, the possibility of modifying autobiographical memories, in particular with memory-modulation and memory-erasing, is a very important topic both from the theoretical and from the practical point of view. The aim of this paper is to illustrate the state of the art of some of the most promising areas of memory-modulation and memory-erasing, considering how they can affect the self and the overall balance of the “self and autobiographical memory” system. Indeed, different conceptualizations of the self and of personal identity in relation to autobiographical memory are what makes memory-modulation and memory-erasing more or less desirable. Because of the current limitations (both practical and ethical) to interventions on memory, I can Edited by: only sketch some hypotheses. However, it can be argued that the choice to mitigate Rossella Guerini, painful memories (or edit memories for other reasons) is somehow problematic, from an Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Italy ethical point of view, according to some of the theories of the self and personal identity Reviewed by: in relation to autobiographical memory, in particular for the so-called narrative theories Tillmann Vierkant, University of Edinburgh, of personal identity, chosen here as the main case of study. Other conceptualizations of United Kingdom the “self and autobiographical memory” system, namely the constructivist theories, do Antonella Marchetti, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, not have this sort of critical concerns. -
The Biopolitics of Memory in Transnational Circuits
The Biopolitics of Memory in Transnational Circuits: Lifted Tongues and Cloned Dogs by Hyaesin Yoon A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric and the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Trinh T. Minh-ha, Chair Professor Shannon Jackson Professor Charis Thompson Spring 2014 1 Abstract The Biopolitics of Memory in Transnational Circuits: Lifted Tongues and Cloned Dogs by Hyaesin Yoon Doctor of Philosophy in Rhetoric And the Designated Emphasis in Women, Gender and Sexuality University of California, Berkeley Professor Trinh T. Minh-ha, Chair The Biopolitics of Memory: Lifted Tongues and Cloned Pets explores an ethics of memory in a time when bodies are modified, reproduced, and disposed of in transnational circuits. This exploration raises two overarching questions. First, how do we carry memories of others when bodies and images intermingle at the intersection of biotechnology and virtual media? Second, what do such memories tell us about the uneven circuits within which these bodies circulate across the differences in sex, race, species, and nation? Critically engaging with the ethics of mourning, this dissertation searches for an ethics of memory that approaches bodies not as a fulcrum of abjection, but as regenerative interfaces in which collective memories are composed through encounters with other bodies. The dissertation concerns two sets of technologically intervened bodies, which embody “cuts” in cultural and biological memories. The first part examines the question of the diasporic tongue and its bearing on cultural memories. -
Memory in Mind and Culture
This page intentionally left blank Memory in Mind and Culture This text introduces students, scholars, and interested educated readers to the issues of human memory broadly considered, encompassing individual mem- ory, collective remembering by societies, and the construction of history. The book is organized around several major questions: How do memories construct our past? How do we build shared collective memories? How does memory shape history? This volume presents a special perspective, emphasizing the role of memory processes in the construction of self-identity, of shared cultural norms and concepts, and of historical awareness. Although the results are fairly new and the techniques suitably modern, the vision itself is of course related to the work of such precursors as Frederic Bartlett and Aleksandr Luria, who in very different ways represent the starting point of a serious psychology of human culture. Pascal Boyer is Henry Luce Professor of Individual and Collective Memory, departments of psychology and anthropology, at Washington University in St. Louis. He studied philosophy and anthropology at the universities of Paris and Cambridge, where he did his graduate work with Professor Jack Goody, on memory constraints on the transmission of oral literature. He has done anthro- pological fieldwork in Cameroon on the transmission of the Fang oral epics and on Fang traditional religion. Since then, he has worked mostly on the experi- mental study of cognitive capacities underlying cultural transmission. After teaching in Cambridge, San Diego, Lyon, and Santa Barbara, Boyer moved to his present position at the departments of anthropology and psychology at Washington University, St. Louis. James V. -
The History Problem: the Politics of War
History / Sociology SAITO … CONTINUED FROM FRONT FLAP … HIRO SAITO “Hiro Saito offers a timely and well-researched analysis of East Asia’s never-ending cycle of blame and denial, distortion and obfuscation concerning the region’s shared history of violence and destruction during the first half of the twentieth SEVENTY YEARS is practiced as a collective endeavor by both century. In The History Problem Saito smartly introduces the have passed since the end perpetrators and victims, Saito argues, a res- central ‘us-versus-them’ issues and confronts readers with the of the Asia-Pacific War, yet Japan remains olution of the history problem—and eventual multiple layers that bind the East Asian countries involved embroiled in controversy with its neighbors reconciliation—will finally become possible. to show how these problems are mutually constituted across over the war’s commemoration. Among the THE HISTORY PROBLEM THE HISTORY The History Problem examines a vast borders and generations. He argues that the inextricable many points of contention between Japan, knots that constrain these problems could be less like a hang- corpus of historical material in both English China, and South Korea are interpretations man’s noose and more of a supportive web if there were the and Japanese, offering provocative findings political will to determine the virtues of peaceful coexistence. of the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, apologies and that challenge orthodox explanations. Written Anything less, he explains, follows an increasingly perilous compensation for foreign victims of Japanese in clear and accessible prose, this uniquely path forward on which nationalist impulses are encouraged aggression, prime ministerial visits to the interdisciplinary book will appeal to sociol- to derail cosmopolitan efforts at engagement. -
Collective Memory and Cultural Identity a Comparative Study of the Politics of Memory and Identity Among Israelis of Polish and Tunisian Descent Giorgia Foscarini
Document généré le 24 sept. 2021 15:52 Ethnologies Collective memory and cultural identity A comparative study of the politics of memory and identity among Israelis of Polish and Tunisian descent Giorgia Foscarini Échanges d’histoires, passages d’expériences et jeux de la mémoire Résumé de l'article Memories at stake: Sharing stories and exchanging experiences L’objectif principal de cet article est de fournir un compte rendu préliminaire Volume 39, numéro 2, 2017 des résultats de mes recherches de terrain sur l’identité et la mémoire des troisième et quatrième générations d’Israélites d’ascendance ashkénaze et URI : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1051665ar mizrahi, notamment d’origine polonaise et tunisienne. Les questions sur DOI : https://doi.org/10.7202/1051665ar lesquelles je me concentrerai sont: Comment les identités israéliennes de troisième et quatrième génération ont-elles été construites dans le temps et dans l’espace? Et comment la génération actuelle de jeunes Israéliens Aller au sommaire du numéro s’attache-t-elle à son patrimoine culturel, si tel est le cas, dans sa tentative de comprendre et de construire son identité actuelle? L’influence du passé historique d’Israël et de ses mémoires de migrants sera analysée en relation Éditeur(s) avec le processus de construction identitaire des deux groupes, et la manière selon laquelle ces souvenirs ont été intégrés ou non dans le récit national Association Canadienne d’Ethnologie et de Folklore israélien. ISSN 1481-5974 (imprimé) 1708-0401 (numérique) Découvrir la revue Citer cet article Foscarini, G. (2017). Collective memory and cultural identity: A comparative study of the politics of memory and identity among Israelis of Polish and Tunisian descent. -
The Politics of Commemoration at Sites of Atrocity
47 3 (RE) C OVERING THE PAST , REMEM B ERING TRAUMA : THE POLITI C S O F COMMEMORATION AT SITES O F ATRO C ITY Lisa M. Moore This article explores the current upsurge in the production of memory with the construction of memorial sites worldwide to commemorate incidences of mass violence, atrocity, and genocide. Through the two empirical lenses of Cambodia and Rwanda, it grapples with what propels the impetus to memorialize, in whose interest memorials are constructed, and how memorials may fulfill multiple and competing purposes as a form of symbolic justice or reparations to the victims, an instrument for reconciliation, a mechanism for nation-building and political legitimacy, and a pedagogical tool to inculcate the preventative lessons of “never again.” Finally, using the contemporary debate surrounding the commemoration of Ground Zero in New York City, this paper argues that the challenge for architects, policymakers, and civil actors in the construction of memorials is not only to target their design toward their intended purpose, but is also to navigate the fact that memorials are eminently present and can enact violence through their representation of the past. Lisa M. Moore is a Master in Public Affairs (MPA) 2009 Graduate of Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. She currently works as a humanitarian policy officer in the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York. 48 INTRODUCT I ON The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past. -
Blurred Lines History, Memory and the Experience of Time
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR HISTORY, CULTURE AND MODERNITY www.history-culture-modernity.org Published by: Amsterdam University Press Blurred Lines History, Memory and the Experience of Time Chris Lorenz HCM 2 (1): 43–62 DOI: 10.5117/HCM2014.1.lore Abstract This article argues that fundamental controversial parts of the past – that since 1990 have been labeled as “catastrophic”, “post-traumatic”, “terroristic” and “haunting” – are overstretching the normal “historical” concept of “the past”. This is the case because historians normally presuppose that the past does “go away” – and therefore is distant and absent from the present. The presupposition that the “hot” present transforms into a “cold” past by itself, just like normal fires extinguish and “cool off” by themselves, has been constitutive for history as a discipline. This process of “cooling off” is often conceived of as the change from memory to history. The first part of this article connects the rise of history as the discipline studying “the past” to the invention of the “modern” future in the late eighteenth century and to the introduction of a linear and progressive notion of time. Next, the rise of memory as the central notion for understanding the past will be connected to the implosion of the future and of progressive linear time at the end of the twentieth century. This implosion was predominantly caused by the growing consciousness since the late 1980’s of the catastrophic character of the twentieth century. The second part argues that present definitions of the relationship between history and memory have typically remained ambiguous. This ambiguity is explained by the problematic distinction between the past and the present.