Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
Profoundly challenging the traditional view of memory as the product and property of individual minds, Collective Remembering is concerned with remembering and forgetting as socially constituted activities. The starting point is a conceptualization of remembering and forgetting as forms of social action. Individual memories cannot be understood as internal mental processes′ which occur independently of the interpretive and communicative practices which characterize a particular society or culture. Individuals read′, account for and negotiate their memories within the pragmatics of social life. Contributions also explore the collective processes through which communities′ social memories are created, sustained and transformed
Synopsis
Profoundly challenging the traditional view of memory as the product and property of individual minds, Collective Remembering investigates remembering and forgetting as socially constituted activities. The authors argue that individuals account for and understand their memories through the concepts, stories, and stereotypes that have been acquired within the parameters of their sociocultural heritage. Collective Remembering explores the ways communities, families, other groups, cultures, and organizations are created, sustained, and transformed. Also examined are the ways in which what is to be remembered--or forgotten--can become rhetorically and ideologically interpreted to account for the past, present, and future of social life. The social character of memory is a focus of growing interest across a range of disciplines including psychology, sociology, communication, history, and anthropology. Collective Remembering makes an important contribution to this emerging debate. "I found each of the chapters in Collective Remembering to offer new phenomena to study and new ways of examining problems that are just now being articulated. This text should be read by anyone interested in the study of memory, since it will challenge any preconceived notions about the nature and uses of memory and remembering." --Semiotica "The authors have brilliantly described a wide range of phenomena that fall under the heading of collective remembering, but perhaps even more importantly, they have challenged many of the theoretical constructs and boundaries of contemporary social science. It is a major accomplishment and will be looked upon for years as being well ahead of its time." --James V. Wertsch, Clark University "Taken together these essays are the freshest and most promising approach I have seen to begin to map the features we are likely to find in this terrain." --Davis Thelan, Editor, The Journal of American History "Includes many interesting examples of how memories for past events are socially negotiated and in some cases politically manipulated." --The Psychologist "A good study by Michael Billig on 'ideology and the British Royal family.' . . . A splendid study by Barry Schwartz on the making, or re-making, of Abraham Lincoln's reputation. . . . Michael Schudson also contributes as engaging piece on American presidential reputations. . . . A third equally valuable and stimulating contribution is David Bakhurst's account of 'social memory in Soviet thought.' . . . The study of memory, as a social and political phenomenon, is one of the most exciting areas of current work. The collection of essays under review makes a useful addition to this literature." --The Sociological Review
Table of Contents
Conversational remembering : a social psychological approach / David Middleton and Derek Edwards -- Artefacts, memory and a sense of the past / Alan Radley -- Collective memory, ideology and the British royal family / Michael Billig -- The reconstruction of Abraham Lincoln / Barry Schwartz -- Ronald Reagan misremembered / Michael Schudson -- The social construction of remembering and forgetting / John Shotter -- Organizational forgetting : an activity-theoretical perspective / Yrjèo Engestrèom ... et al. -- Sharing knowledge, celebrating identity : community memory in a service culture / Julian E. Orr -- Folk explanation in language survival / Carol A. Padden -- Social memory in Soviet thought / David Bakhurst.