Memory studies: theories, methods, and contemporary applications

Social Memory

Societies across the planet all experience a phenomenon that has been called "social memory," and involves the idea that the past can be shaped and remembered in a way that is shared by those involved as well as those who come later. The idea of social memory is at the heart of this weeks readings; including a definition of social memory and how it functions, how it can be used to support and strengthen the state, how it can be used to form the basis for a society, and finally how it can be overcome to include parts of the past that society has chosen to forget.

As a concept, "social memory" is not something that each individual maintains inside their own head, but it "exclusively exists between subjects and not within them; its form of existence consists of communication." (Welzer, 2010, p.5) in other words, it is what people are expected to remember in public, while they interact with others. One example of this type of phenomenon took place in Spain after its civil war. In order to maintain power and stability, the atrocities committed by the Nationalists under Franco had been erased from the social memory for decades. In the case of nations, "this phenomenon is quite common when the construction of the state and national identity calls for highlighting patriotism, victory, and cohesion, on one hand, and for concealing uncomfortable episodes, especially those related to violence, on the other." (Cenarro, 2002, p.3) Social memory was used in Spain as a means of maintaining Franco's power by rewriting history and imposing this rewritten history on the people.

While social memory can be used as a means of repression, it can also be used to create a new cultural identity; as in the case of the Palestinians. What the Palestinians refer the "Nakba," or the loss of their traditional homeland when the state of Israel came into existence, has become the basis of their social memory. But unlike the Spanish, the Palestinians have maintained a social memory that remembers "every tree, every stone fence, every grave, house, mosque, every street and village square [the refugees] left behind." (Allen, 2007, p.2) Instead of removing unpleasant memories from the social memory, the Palestinians have used these painful episodes as a means of social cohesion in the face of the social destruction experienced in their flight from their homeland and their new life in the refugee camps.

But this kind of memory is limited to the experiences of the people involved. As time goes by, and new generations come to be, their social memory is dependent upon their experiences, which are different from the generations that came before. In other words, "the acquisition and transmission of imaginations of the past follows patterns that are specific to the respective generation." (Welzer, 2010, p.5) This is exemplified by the experience of the Sabbateans during the transition of Turkey into a modern nation after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in 1920. Traditionally the Sabbateans had followed their religious beliefs in private while maintaining a Moslem facade in public. But after the fall of the Ottomans, and the modernization programs enacted by its new leader Mustafa Kemal, there was enormous social pressure for the Sabbateans to conform to the new ideals of the modern Turkish state by discarding their Sabbatean religious traditions. In other words, the Turks were creating a new social memory that was based on abandoning traditional activities, like practicing Sabbateanism, and embracing the new, progressive activities of the modern Turkish state: exemplified by citizenship. But this new social memory required many to abandon their religious faith in favor of a modern connection to the state. And this new ideology was accepted by many Sabbateans for decades. However, a new generation, raised in a more democratic society, has rejected this social memory in favor of a more individualistic view of the past. Individuals in modern-day Turkey are rejecting the social memory which maintains a sense of conformity as a basis of citizenship, and are openly embracing their Sabbatean religious past, along with its traditions, regardless of the social implications of bucking a system that has been in place for decades.