collective memories

collective memories

1. share memories of past events with others - personal memories for them - sometimes may be inaccurate

2. may believe we remember events from childhood because they have often been discussed by family - providing a framework for reconstructing a memory

   • e.g. Piaget's memory of being kidnapped as a child - did not happen

3. may be a way of expressing a common family identity and transmitting this through generations

4. can work on national level - national history constructed / reconstructed

   • Gergen gives example of apartheid regime atrocities in South Africa made public to facilitate reconciliation and shape collective memory
     • examples of traditions invented in British history and collectively treated as long-standing e.g. highland dress was invented by Englishman after union rather than being a Scottish tradition

5. can be seen as important for social constructionist ideas in terms of negotiating shared meanings

   • suggest memory is social as well as individual process and shows some of purposes which it can be used
     • more generally - supports Bartlett's idea that memory is reconstructive