Two different concepts of collective memory competeone refers to the. Apr 25, 2018 memory becomes collective when it is shared, and for it to be shared it must be mediated. Individualism and commitment in american life 229 anthony smith, from the ethnic origins of nations 231 yael zerubavel, from recovered roots. Two different concepts of collective memory competeone refers to the aggregation of socially framed individual memories and one refers to collective phenomena sui generisthough the difference is rarely articulated in the literature. Korean translation by young hwi yoon, ho gun choi and yoo.
This article aims to analyse the features of the collective memory constructed by the media associated with the socalled altright alternative right movement in the united states. Olick, university of virginia, usa abstract this article reflects on the past, present, and future states of social memory studies. The final text has been included in the book media revolution, edited by stephen kovats, edition bauhaus. At the same time, cultural memory studies is not restricted to the study of those ways. Conflict and memory american psychological association. Indeed, use of the term has extended far beyond scholarship to the realm of politics and journalism, where it has appeared in speeches at the centers of power and on the front pages of the worlds leading newspapers. Collective memory in halbwachs thus indicates at least two distinct, and not obvi. Comte, the positive philosophy of auguste comte, translated by harriet marineau, new york.
Article information, pdf download for collective memory. Spaces, times, bodies, and images are cultural resources drawn upon in. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Narrating unity at the european unions new history museum. This text is a considerably reworked version of a lecture i presented in tirana piramedia, tallinn action reflection and prague translocation. Over the past two decades, the relationship between culture and memory. Two different concepts of collective memory competeone refers to the aggregation of socially framed individual memories and one refers to collective phenomena sui generisthough the difference is rarely articulated in the. Jan 14, 2011 olick 1999 for halbwachs, who accepted durkheims critique of philosophy, studying memory is not a matter of reflecting on properties of the subjective mind, as bergson 1896 1991 emphasized. Apr 14, 2020 on collective memory and historical responsibility book routledge, olick looks at how catastrophic, terrible pasts nazi germany, apartheid south africa are remembered, but he is particularly concerned with the role that memory plays in social structures. For an overview on the collectivist and individualist traditions in the literature, see olick who proposes that the field of social memory studies be divided into two main traditions. A dialogical analysis of may 8, 1945, commemorations in the federal republic of germany figurations of memory. For constantly i felt i was moving among two groupscomparable in intelligence, identical in race, not grossly different in social origin, earning about the same incomes, who had almost ceased to communicate at all, who in intellectual, moral and psychological climate had so.
Collective memory from a psychological perspective. In the past decade, jeffrey olick has established himself as one of the worlds preeminent sociologists of memory and, related to this, both cultural sociology and social theory. After nearly two decades, olick remains my interlocutor on all matters mnemonic. I argue that farright media produce an ethnically exclusive collective memory, which consequently aims to counter the mainstream collective memory. The art historian aby warburg used the term so cial memory to analyze artworks as repositories of history. Jan made a distinction between two types of memory. Holocaust myth and rationality in german politics genre memories and memory genres.
Two different concepts of collective memory competeone refers to the aggregation of socially framed individual memories and one refers to collective phe. Olick born november 15th, 1964 is an american sociologist. Taken together, these seminal texts, hardtofind classics, previsouly untranslated material. On collective memory and historical responsibility new york routledge, 2007, 229 pp. The two cultures 225 robert bellah, richard madsen, wiluam m. Cultural trauma, collective memory, and the vietnam war. When viewing the study of collective memory from this. Going back to halbwachss original writing, this article argues that this genealogy rests upon a misreading. In the last few decades, there are few concepts that have rivaled collective memory for attention in the humanities and social sciences. Olick is a major figure in cultural sociology and social theory and has made significant contributions to the interdisciplinary field of. Olick columbia university what is collective about collective memory. This cited by count includes citations to the following articles in scholar. Collective memory as an efficient agent in sustainable urban conservation.
Sociology 476 seminar in collective memory gary alan fine. First, memory that is formed through coercion is just as. Reconciling the greensboro massacre david cunningham, brandeis university colleen nugent, rutgers university caitlin slodden, brandeis university while the general dynamics governing collective memory processes are well developed theoretically, our tool kit for systematically assessing how collective memory. His recent book on memory in postwar germany, in the house of the hangman university of chicago press, 2005 has ga. The politics of cultural memory eric kluitenberg editorial note. Jeffrey olick, vered vinitzkyseroussi, and daniel levi, introduction. Pdf 2011 international conference on green buildings and. Taking as its starting point that these contests over meaning are always framed by their contexts of articulation both in temporal and spatial terms, this article examines the role of parades in the current postconflict phase. Jeffrey olick focuses on how social and cultural memory frame both individual and collective wellbeing, touching on provocative questions related to how resilient individuals and resilient groups remember traumatic events, and how these modes of remembering influence the capacity to move forward from trauma. Combining seminal texts, hardtofind classics, previously untranslated references, and contemporary landmarks, it will serve as a key reference in the field. The ones marked may be different from the article in the profile. The two cultures collective memory and cultural constraint. Nevertheless, there remains a great deal of confusion about the meaning, origin, and implication of the term and the field of inquiry it underwrites.
Two different concepts of collective memory competeone refers to the aggregation of socially. Olick 1999 for halbwachs, who accepted durkheims critique of philosophy, studying memory is not a matter of reflecting on properties of the subjective mind, as bergson 1896 1991 emphasized. Memory becomes collective when it is shared, and for it to be shared it must be mediated. The first and only comprehensive, foundational overview of collective memory. The collective memory reader presents, organizes, and evaluates past work and contemporary contributions on collective memory. Olick, 9780195337426, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Collective memory and cultural history 87 useful to think about how people construct pasts because of its openendedness, because it is applicable to historical situations and human conditions in diverse societies and periods. New directions in the sociology of collective memory and. Larry griffin, generations and collective memory revisited. In northern ireland, parades have long been important carriers of politicocultural identities and collective memories, as well as arenas of struggle and conflict. The collective memory reader presents, organizes, and evaluates past work and contemporary contributions on the questions raised under the rubric of collective memory.
A crosscultural approach to remembering political events. As a result, they have largely focused on the efforts communities make to shape and maintain collective memories, including their use of cultural artifacts, memory practices, and mnemonic technologies. It sounds like a critique of halbwachs static concept of collective memory that lays out a processoriented alternative counterconcepts laid out on p. For these social scientists, collective memories are not shared individual memories, but, as olick 1999 stated it, publicly available symbols maintained by society. Collective memory as an efficient agent in sustainable. From collective memory to the politics of regret collective memory. His recent book on memory in postwar germany, in the house of the hangman university of chicago. The art historian aby warburg used the term social memory to analyze artworks as repositories of history. Two perspectives, each based on unique premises about power, distortion, and objectivity, have guided the study of conflict and collective memory. On collective memory and historical responsibility book routledge, olick looks at how catastrophic, terrible pasts nazi germany, apartheid south africa are remembered, but he is particularly concerned with the role that memory plays in social structures.
The two cultures olick 1999 sociological theory wiley online library. Individualismand commitment in american life 229 anthony smith, from the ethnicorigins ofnations 231 yael zerubavel, from recovered roots. Walter benjamin as well, though he never used the terms social or collective memory, analyzed the. While state rhetoric once overwhelmingly focused on heroic commemorations of glorious pasts, states now increasingly must confront their own atrocities and misdeeds in order to establish or maintain legitimacy. This introduction to the special issue on conflict and memory aims to underscore the importance of memory whether individual and collective in relation to intergroup conflicts. Despite the proliferation of work employing the term collective memory, the field. But the benefit of richness cannot overcome a sense that the term memory is. Here olicks observation of an unresolved tension between individualist and collectivist strains running through halbwachss work can be of use. The collective memory reader in searchworks catalog. Family home is a place where the memory of the past is being nurtured.
In this chapter we explore the american collective memory of the vietnam war. The most widely held is the politics of memory, which assumes that power legitimates itself by determining what we remember and forget. The two cultures 225 robert bellah, richard madsen, william m. Olick refers to this transformation as the rise of the politics of regret. Parallax 17, 2011, 418 october 20 no class october 27 identity and commemoration benedict anderson, introduction, chapter 11 lauren rivera, managing spoiled national identity. Mark osiel, from mass atrocity, collective memory, andthe law 468 avishai margalit, from the ethics. The collective memory reader provides a wide array of texts that underwrite the field of memory studies.
192 1403 1456 676 268 165 1414 357 371 1091 107 1204 770 696 1244 990 946 247 196 222 68 1169 487 949 426 266 454 34 495 36 1339 1007 746 495 201 1449 511 87 1244 1452