Narratives and social memory : dialogic challenges

Memory Studies

This paper discusses the social context of remembering, arguing that remembering, though performed individually, cannot be conceived without the society that surrounds the remembrancer. It discusses various theories on memory, the act of remembering, its context, and attempts to reach a synthesis.

Teksty Drugie, 2016

Cognizing the other, us vs others or our own vs someone else's within a divided group, along with processes of diffusional intercultural permeation, hybridizing and fusing the heterogeneous (thus conditioning not only the imitative and dependent, but also the original and specific)-undoubtedly, these were the most fundamental problems for the humanities and culture of the previous century. It is not without reason that they have given rise to a wide range of studies, commentaries, philosophical and theoretical conceptualizations. It has long been obvious that debate over these matters has not been restricted to academia, but first and foremost in the cultural arena with all its conflicting historical, political and social issues. One could say that they constitute one of the few domains in which the humanities, broadly understood, can carry out research which is not only cognitively and substantially valuable, but also potentially good and socially useful, depending on the effects of implementing programmes which are (socially) corrective, formational and educational in nature.

Handbook on the Politics of Memory (ed Maria Mälksoo), 2023

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2006

2001

The author argues that contemporary social theories cannot simultaneously accommodate the diachronic and synchronic dimensions of time within their frameworks, because they reduce the complexities of social life in order to cope with them. Jacques Derrida’s and Walter Benjamin’s writings on memory open up the possibility of thinking about the relation between memory and narrative in multiple ways. These two theorists affirm the discontinuity and the non-recognition between past events and present discourses and analyse a broad range of possibilities in the reading of history. The author argues that the simultaneity of the diachronic and synchronic dimensions of time becomes possible only when past and present are not thought of as two separate entities, as is common practice in social theory.

7th International e-Conference on Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences: Conference Proceedings, 2021

The article examines the problem of the “memory studies” development and the role that psychology and sociology play in the development of this interdisciplinary field of humanities. The authors divide the history of memory studies into two periods. The analysis of the first stage of the conceptual formation of memory research, starting from the end of the XIX century and till the first part of the century, first of all, on the basis of psychological, sociological is revealed. The authors demonstrate the trajectory of the evolution of the scientific understanding of “memory” from a purely psychological interpretation of the phenomenon to a socio-psychological concept (group memory), to a broad sociological theory (socio-cultural and historical memory). It is shown how at the second stage of the memory studies development, starting from the second half of the XX century till the present time, sociological research unfolds in the paradigm of memory studies and at the same time there i...

2020

Is memory an example of successful adaptation among homo sapiens? – this hypothesis permeates the 40 chapters of the Routledge International Handbook of Memory Studies. This volume edited by Anna Lisa Tota and Trever Hagen approaches the field of memory studies from multiple perspectives, from sociology and philosophy to psychology and biology even. The book is divided into six parts, complemented with index, illustrations, all carefully edited. Part One presents a number of theories and perspectives. Here, main concepts of memory studies are discussed with the hindsight of several decades that have passed since they first stormed social sciences. Collective, communicative and cultural memory as well as their relation to history all receive attention there. Patrick H. Hutton's thorough analysis of Pierre Nora's 'sites of memory thirty years after' deserves special praise for its careful reconstruction of the process in which this concept arose, as well as for a succi...

Memories lost in the Middle Ages. Collective forgetting as an alternative procedure of the social cohesion, 2023

Four central ideas: 1. Maurice Halbwachs and the more recent sociology of memory still provide essential insights which allow the understanding of collective processes of remembering and of forgetting (Section 2) 2. It is still useful to distinguish between collective and social memory. While collective memories aim to generate the imagined creation of collectives, social memories focus on – empirically visible – socially activated continuity, e.g. with a view to co-ordinate action and individual identity . (Sectiont 3) 3. There is a two-fold necessity of a stronger basis in social theory as well as of a study of memory rooted more firmly in politics, especially as far as the sociology of memory is concerned. (Section 4) 4. The idea of collective memory remains useful. However, modifications and more precise definitions are achieved by ongoing debates (transcultural, transcollective memory etc.). (Section 5)

The parties of a substantial number of the present-day ethno-national conflicts base their claims on the assertion of victimhood based on past wrong-doings. As such, understanding the roots, continuation and allegation of the victimhood claims is a compulsory step for the comprehension and the resolution of the contemporary conflicts. The sense of victimhood often grows out of the social memory of the ethnic/national groups. Social memory also helps to sustain the victim identity of the group and also utilized by the group to evidence its victimhood. Therefore, the first step to understand the dynamics of sense and claim of victimhood is the comprehension of the dynamics of social memory. This study is a lengthy review of the social memory literature. It seeks to display the major conceptualizations of social memory and the main schools, approaches and debates in the literature. Öz: Günümüzde süregiden pek çok etno-ulusal ihtilaf ve çatışmanın tarafları iddialarını geçmişte karşı karşıya kaldıkları haksızlıklardan kaynaklanan mağduriyet iddiaları üzerinden kurmaktadırlar. Bu nedenle, mağduriyet iddilarının kökenlerinin ve bu iddiaların devamlılığını sağlayan nedenlerin anlaşılması çağdaş etno-ulusal