Riddhika Parmar, Week 13: Collective Memory
Riddhika Parmar
Week 13 - 3/23/22
Collective Memory
September 11, 2021 marked the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. My parents lived through this tragedy, but we were not born yet so we didn’t personally experience it. Americans vowed “never to forget” the day that our nation was attacked. Commemorating this moment in history every year ensures younger generations will collectively remember its significance.
Likewise, if you ask people who were alive at the time, they will tell you exactly where they were when President JFK was shot. Younger Americans didn’t experience this event directly but they feel it deeply by virtue of living in American society and hearing news stories and documentaries with images from that horrific day.
Unlike these two events above, the 2020 pandemic is an event that we have experienced personally, and our memories exist in a first person point-of-view. The next generation, though, will not have experienced this event.
Collective memory, coined by sociologist Maurice Halbwachs, refers to memories that a group of people have collected through shared social experiences. Similarly, Carl Jung believed the collective unconscious contained the whole history of the human race. Emile Durkheim also discussed how each new generation is connected to the past, and how memories carry forward as a “social memory.” Halbwachs stated that personal memories are recorded through the filter of our collective and social memories. For example, we remember taking our children to the park through the lens of our family taking us to the park. Collective memory is further enhanced because we conserve history. For instance, religious symbols, historical buildings, museums, video recordings, social media, and books are all references that tie us to past generations and influence our memory.
Storytelling is one aspect of collective memory that varies with different cultures. Inherently, if we don’t actively take time to tell stories and pass down the history, some portions of collective memory may be lost. We all should do our part and contribute toward our society’s collective memory.
photo credit: https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/collective_memory.asp
Credit:
https://www.sju.edu/news/20-years-later-ensuring-we-never-forget-911
http://www.crimemagazine.com/new-generation-views-jfk-assassination
https://study.com/academy/lesson/collective-memory-definition-history-theory.html
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/storytelling-and-cultural-traditions/5th-grade/#:~:text=Storytelling%20has%20existed%20in%20all%20cultures%20for%20a,inform%20and%20pass%20down%20cultural%20traditions%20and%20values
The idea of collective memory you bring up reminds me of the collective memory Sethe and Paul D share in Beloved. Both of them were at Sweet Home and shared the bittersweet and horrific tragedies that haunt them throughout their lifetime. When they reunite after several years in front of 124, they feel a connection and are comforted by each other because of their collective memory. I've heard of similar behaviors occurring for plane crash, hostage, or other tragedy survivors as well. Maybe even we will experience the same phenomenon from collective memory when we bump into each other decades from now.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in fourth grade, my teacher asked me what my least favorite subject was. I replied that it was history. He seemed intrigued but never followed up on the conversation. When my mother became a fourth-grade teacher, I asked her what her least favorite subject to teach was. She said history as well. However, in a few months, history became her favorite subject. The facts, timeline, and events she forced herself to memorize to create lesson plans soon became a never-ending story she very much enjoyed sharing with her students. While none of them including my mother could personally relate to U.S. history up until World War I, she described how unique such memories of the past were that they could be appreciated and analyzed even today by such young individuals. History isn’t just the study of all the complex economics behind human accomplishment, it is the memories of the collective human race.
Hey Riddhika, the importance of collective memory that you highlight reminds me of the denial of some schools to teach critical race theory and how this might similarly have tragic effects on future generations. Memories of the past are still exceedingly important in the present as they help us make links between events, people, and concepts in the present that would otherwise seem completely arbitrary. You talked about some of the benefits of collective memory, which made me conversely wonder how devastating it could be if current and future generations were not exposed to critical parts of collective memory. Your blog just exemplifies how crucial it is that we prevent the passing of legislature that could rob students of the opportunity to learn about both the good and bad of the past and that could potentially change the lens from which they look at life for the worse.
ReplyDeleteHey Riddhika, the aspect of collective memory that each and every individual in this world should have brings us to the point where there are so many students in particular that have absolutely no idea about the past and the representation issues that older generations faced. Whether it was rights for women or equal rights for every race, it's important to be aware of the past to make sure you don't repeat it. My dad was just telling us the other day that you need to be educated about the past to make sure we don't trigger an event that could potentially lead to having to repeat a brutal moment of history that led to the loss of several people.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika, I find it so interesting that this event, this pandemic, will be usurped into collective memory one day. It seems never ending, but for future generations, this could very well be in the same books as the assassination of President JFK and 9/11, all important events preserved into collective memory. Now that I think about it, various keystone events in American history are known to the general public because of collective memory; we have photographs and evidence that it happened, but we never personally experienced it. Thus, the importance of history itself really shines. Without collective memory, is there a guarantee that we won't repeat past mistakes? Likely not. Thus, the items and objects that cause collective memory have an increased importance in forming the lens of past, present, and future generations in their outlook of society, politics, and the world.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika, I found the idea of “collective memory” you mention in your blog quite interesting because it is why we know about history. If people did not write about ongoing events, people in the future might not be able to learn from such instances. I think collective memory also has to do with language and traditions. For example, I feel that if I do not learn my mother tongue properly or keep traditions, the next generation will lose touch with their roots. I already see this happening where second-generation families in the U.S. have become what people call “Americanized.” Regardless, I feel the act of learning from our past is the most important reason for maintaining collective memory.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika! Carl Jung's theory of the collective unconscious is truly interesting. Our collective memories may be similar but our personal memories and perspectives will always be differing. Our memories may have been created in the same place or at the same time, but our experiences will always be different. I find that it is comforting knowing that other people experienced something similar to me, but I also must remember that no one will ever truly know someone else's memory.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika! I agree that collective memory is important in preserving history. The emotions that come with memories are what bring more value. If this value is lost, then many crucial parts of history will be lost as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Riddhika, the threads that connect people go beyond language and culture—memories connect people that have never spoken. 9/11, an event that changed the entire world, is one of those moments, and I think that the COVID-19 pandemic is even more impactful since it brought the world to a halt for two years. Over generations, this "collective memory" is lost, but stories passed down and books written are able to preserve the "feeling" that everyone feels but is somewhat unexplainable.
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