Collective Memories and Collective Identities

Abstract

This ethnographic study of two Native American social movement organizations challenging educational practices examines the collective memory processes that occur simultaneously and in conjunction with the process of collective identity to help maintain movement unity. Links between collective memory and collective identity are theoretically traced, and the concept of narrative commemoration is proposed to help explore two distinct processes which emerged in the analysis. The first process, collective memory creation, makes collective memories of recent events held by only a small portion of a movement's membership available to be shared by the whole movement. The second process, collective memory maintenance, ensures that memories from the movement's past are carried forward to be shared by current members. Each process is important as movement members develop a unity around ends, means, fields of action, networks of relations, and recollections of these elements from the movement's past.