collective memory

shared pool of knowledge, memories, and interpretations of the past that a society/community/group has. it is SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED (rather than an accumulation of individual memories) (EX: how the jewish people remember the holocaust)

Collective Memory

Socially shared understandings of the past shaped by institutions, culture, and politics.

intersubjectivity

the idea that we share the same consciousness ("I know that you know that I know")

Mnemonic entrepreneur

An actor who deliberately works to shape how the past is publicly remembered.

memory work

The ongoing cultural labor of producing, preserving, revising, or contesting memory.

invented traditions

Practices that appear old but are modern constructions created for present social or political purposes.
EX: national holidays (valentines day created to make $)

usable past

A version of history selected for its usefulness in current identity or politics.

difficult past

A past event that challenges a group's moral identity, producing discomfort or conflict.EX: germany and WWII

restorative nostalgia

Nostalgia that seeks to rebuild or return to an idealized past.

EX: the type we see w MAGA, nostalgia for the past and an attempt to go back there (to recreate/restore it)

Reflective nostalgia

Nostalgia that reflects on longing and loss without believing the past can be reconstructed.

reputation

A socially constructed evaluation of a person or event that changes over time.

natal alienation

The condition in which enslaved people are cut off from ancestry and kinship.

carrier groups

Groups that construct and communicate trauma narratives to the public.

theodicy

A cultural explanation for suffering that restores moral order.
EX: in hinduism karma explains suffering as a result of actions in past lives

What does it mean to say that memory is socially constructed?

Memory does not happen in a social vacuum, it is shaped by its environment and context. Memory's meaning and content are defined and shaped by society. Memory is shaped by present-day institutions and cultural needs, not simply inherited from the past.

What does Olick argue is the difference between collective and collected memory?

Collected memory refers to individual memories; collective memory refers to public narratives independent of individual recollection.

What are the three types of history for Nietzsche and briefly explain them?

1) monumental history: remembering the heroes and glories of the past, and honoring these aspects with great importance (gives us models).

2) antiquarian history: studying history for history's sake, leads to an obsession with anything old, just because something is old doesn't mean it's special

3) critical history: we can engage/reimagine and be critical of our history: think revisionist history, sometimes we can be too critical, (zoos and colonialism, were too critical) we should be fully aware that we are results of our history good and bad

Using two scholars we read in class, why is forgetting important?

Nietzsche: forgetting is necessary for happiness and action. Take animals as an example, they are able to live "in historically" and forget continually, allowing them to enjoy being in the moment.

Marx: the importance of forgetting is to move on and reflect from history; not enough forgetting can burden revolutionary action and progress.

What does this quote from Marx mean: Men make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please, they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly found, given and transmitted from the past.

Marx argues that decision making is reactive to the past. Even as people make decisions to shape their own lives, the actions of the past impact the circumstances of people's decisions. This constrains the decisions of the present to work within the circumstances given to us by the past. By stating that people, "do not make [history] as they please", Marx identifies how the beliefs, norms, and situations from the past continue to inform the decision of today

When we talk about post-modernity, what does it mean to talk about the failed promises of the enlightenment? Use specific examples.

failed promises of the enlightenment were a factor in causing post-modernity. WWII - people say that the horrors of the war (trench warfare) caused post-modernity, it made the disillusion of human progress obvious. There was an idea that humans were making linear progress as a society, but this was seen as false. This meant that as time progressed we were supposed to get better, however, WW1 and WW2 WWII most scholars believe was the biggest shift, because people's beliefs in our society died, then the questioning began (is progress happening? etc.)

Explain the malleability of memory debate, citing one author from each "side."

whether groups, organizations, and nations are easily able to manipulate and completely invent their versions of the past to suit present political needs, or whether their attempts to rewrite history are constrained and limited by existing social structures and painful historical realities.

side 1: memory is very malleable and invented, we create usable pasts,
Eric Hobsbawm: images of the past are often "produced for reasons", defining these as traditions that are "actually invented, constructed and formally instituted".

side 2: memory is highly resistant to change, existing materials and group experiences make it hard to wash away
Michael Schudson: "full freedom to reconstruct the past" is limited by factors such as the "structure of available pasts".

I explained that there are three ways that memory is malleable: instrumental, cultural, and inertial. Briefly explain each.

Instrumental: refers to the invention of tradition by eric hobsbawm shows that traditions are supposed to be old and built over time, but traditions are actually modern and invented to suit some need or modern purpose
EX: stonewall as the "first gay riot"

cultural: memories can change as social positions/beliefs become altered which also changes our collective memory, so we can interpret the world through our current cultural framework

inertial: when memories fade or decay over time, forgetting at first hand accounts. it is no longer in our consciousness
EX: concern that memories of the holocaust will fade as survivors pass away form old age (their stories might die with them)

Why does Ranger favor the term "imagined traditions" rather than "invented traditions?"

Ranger favors the term "imagined traditions" rather than "invented traditions" because it fully encompasses the history and takes into account the factor of traditions being built over time, rather than a more simplistic term such as "inventing."

Why was Stonewall commemorated over others? What were the three features it had?

because it was the first monument to meet the three crucial conditions of a mnemonic artifact.
1) commemorability
2) mnemonic capacity
3) resonance
represented the LGBTQ community and their fight for equal rights in disruptive and violent riots, had the skills and resources needed to create commemorative vehicles, annual parade. it "struck a chord" with its intended audience, allowing for a "spark" that riled up the crowds and population of gay community members.

What are the politics of regret?

New framework for confronting past misdeeds 1990s mass meadia more available, ppl saw horrors of war, politicians needed to apologize for involvment in these wars, Caused shift of how people think of war, it is no longer a heroic act, but something that should always be avoided - it is horrible, regret and questioning are crucial to post-modernity (question progress)
history becomes a subject for constantly renewed arguments and "contested remembrance". The politics of regret involves groups that insist on depicting "what really happened" and often focusing on the sufferings and questioning the morality or necessity of past actions against those who want to uphold narratives of "national glory".

What was the Enola Gay controversy?

it was a contested remembrance. The plane (that dropped the atomic bomb) was to be displayed in a museum, but mnemonic entrepreneurs could not agree on a historic representation.

The U.S. military wanted it to be a heroic symbol for ending the war, validating the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japanese government it to display the damage and suffering the bomb caused on citizens.

museum curators wanted a plaque that displayed an antiquarian view of history to uphold the facts of the moment.

they could not decide, so it is not on display

Give an example of a difficult past and explain why it is difficult.

a past in which the nation-state is the villain of the story. they meet two main points of criteria: 1) the lack of available social norms for negotiating them
(EX: vietnam war: US not used to losing wars, no set way of remembering it because it wasn't a war we felt good about)
2) producing discord rather than social solidarity

EX: In the wake of the Holocaust, Germany had to decide whether to remember their actions and how to remember the Holocaust.

What does it mean to "normalize" the past?

Normalizing the past one of the several responses to a difficult past. With difficult pasts, it is often met with having to normalize it in order to deal with past events that hurt or embarrass society. When a past is normalized, society has moved beyond denial or silence and instead is engaging with the difficult memory and trauma of the event. To acknowledge a difficult past as it was, is normalizing it and accepting that it is a part of our history.

What is the difference between mastering the past and working through the past?

working through the past means to deal with the trauma and guilt that comes from a difficult past, acknowledging it for what it is and reflecting on the need for societal progress and to avoid repeating the past.

mastering the past is a form of repressing the past by controlling collective memory / denying what really happened. This approach with a difficult past often comes before acknowledgement and is encompassed by denial and selective remembering to avoid guilt or trauma.

What is the distinction between iconoclasm and vandalism and why is the former important to the study of collective memory?

Iconoclasm is the purposeful and deliberate destruction of a visual symbol due to its emotional, political, and ideological content. vandalism is often driven by random, boredom, anger, and profitable motives

iconoclasm reveals that collective memory is a subject of "constantly renewed arguments" that forces groups to renegotiate and readjust to symbols and the memories that they embody, compare and contrast to what they represented in the past and what they represent in the present.

What are the three kinds of difficult reputations and give an example of each.

subculture representation: the standing, perception and social value that a group holds within its own community in relation to a broader culture
EX: President Trump and how Republicans view him - the representation of his own community VS how how in the Democratic party views him.

negative reputation: having negative characteristics attached to an individual, despite them having a few good qualities as well (non-personhood, people are reduced to only their bad)
EX: adolf hitler, we do not say nice things about him ever

contested reputation: a reputation is still in the process of being formed and reformed, it is still up for debate, groups cannot reach a concise opinion
EX: Christopher Colombus (constantly up for debate)

Why does Patterson argue that slavery is a universal institution and that it amounts to social death? What is social death for Patterson?

slavery is a universal institution as all lands and people have at one point either been enslaved or slaveholders. Through this argument, Patterson argues that the presence of slavery is not "a blip" in history, but rather a repeated institution. This institution of slavery amounts to social death, the condition of being marked as less than human. 3 factors that contribute to this death are: 1) force -use of violence 2)alienation -exclusion from rights 3) loss of honor -a result of status, not respected

What is cultural trauma and how is it different from individual trauma? What does Alexander argue are the four critical elements of the social construction of trauma?

Cultural trauma represents a collective loss of identity and meaning across several generations. Cultural trauma is different from individual trauma because while individual trauma stems from a personal experience of harm or violation, cultural trauma is a collective attribution of meaning to an event that profoundly disrupts the shared identity and continuity of a social group.The Carrier Group (Speaker): The group that claims to have suffered the trauma (e.g., a nation, ethnic group, social movement).
The Public (Audience): The broader society or specific audiences that must recognize the suffering as a genuine trauma.
The Situation: The historical, cultural, and institutional environment where the trauma is presented and debated.
The Trauma Narrative: The stories, symbols, and rituals that represent the suffering and integrate it into collective memory, often creating shared responsibility and shaping future identity.

In class, we discussed a more cultural understanding of theodicy. What is the social/cultural definition of theodicy and why does it matter for collective memory?

theodicy is to assign meaning to the suffering and evil experienced by people. This connects to the question of why bad things happen to good people. This matters for collective memory as it creates solidarity and meaning after tragic events. This allows the collective memory to give meaning to an event and explain why suffering has occurred in society.