Creating Shared Memories in Conversation: Toward a Psychology of Collective Memory

Abstract

William Hirst and Gerald Echterhoff Creating Shared Memories in Conversation: Toward a Psychology of Collective Memory PROBLEMS OF MEMORY ARE SALIENT IN TODAY’S WORLD: STRUGGLES BY present-day Germans to face the atrocities of the Holocaust, by South Africans to confront the legacy of apartheid, or by East Europeans to deal with those who collaborated with the form er com m unist regimes.' In each instance, at stake is the form a collective memory of a problem ­ atic past takes and the way this memory shapes and reshapes present and future collective identity. Solutions to these problems of memory may not be readily forthcom ing, but the questions th at need to be addressed are well appreciated, including: How are collective m em o­ ries formed, shaped, reshaped, forgotten, and renewed? How can one talk about collective m em oiy in a way that encompasses situations as diverse as the Holocaust, apartheid, and the velvet revolutions, yet still say something meaningful about the concept itself? How do com m uni­ ties shape and reshape the collective memories their m embers hold? Are there constraints on th e power of com m unities to restructure collective m em ories? And w hat is the relation betw een the m em o­ ries an individual of a com m unity holds of the past and the collective memories held by the community? social research Vol 75 : No 1 : Spring 2008 183 This paper explores how psychology can help address these and similar questions. On the surface, it m ight be thought th at psychology’s tradem ark methodological individualism has little place in the study of collective memory. Indeed, a num ber of scholars of collective m emory specifically w arn against trying to extend the vocabulary of psychology to such a deeply sociological phenom enon (for example, Kansteiner, 2002). We w ant to argue here that this concern is unnecessarily restric­ tive and that psychology has m uch to contribute to the study of collec­ tive memory. We do not seek a complete exegesis of the role psychology may play in this endeavor. Rather, we wish to provide selective illustra­ tions, focusing on the role conversations may play in the formation of collective memories. As Hirst and Manier (in press) have argued, researchers on collec­ tive memory who emphasize its sociological nature have treated it as “publicly available symbols m aintained by society” (Olick, 1999: 336). Some scholars of collective m em ory have approached these symbols as sources in need of interpretation, but a significant num ber of scholars have challenged themselves to understand the process by which these symbols are constructed and m aintained—that is, they are interested in the form ation of collective memories. This latter issue will be the starting point of the present paper. Scholars w ho treat collective m em ories as “publicly available symbols” have largely attem pted to articulate the m em ory practices and resources a com m unity uses intentionally or unintentionally to form and m aintain collective memory and the process by which these practices are devised or the resources are constructed. Considerable emphasis is given to analyzing the memorials, commemorations, texts, and other cultural artifacts, or to use Nora’s (1996) phrase, the lieux de mémoire, that serve as the practices and resources by which society m aintains “publicly available symbols.” For instance, there is intense interest in describing particu­ lar memorials and tracing the history of the politics surrounding the construction of these memorials. Sturken (1997) discusses in detail the battle that arose around the planning and construction of the Vietnam 184 social research W ar Memorial. And Schwartz (2000) exam ined carefully the arguments that preceded and shaped the construction of the Lincoln Memorial (see also Schwartz, this volume, on changes in the observances of national holidays). To a large extent, this work is concerned w ith the use ofpower to shape collective memories and the resistance that arises to this effort. Thus, Swedenburg (1995) discussed the effort Israelis made to reshape Palestinians’ collective m em oiy when they changed the names of town from their traditional Arab rendering to Hebrew ones, as well...