Memory and Childhood

Abstract

The concepts of childhood and memory are interrelated. Memories of childhood are often deployed in popular discussions regarding understandings of what it means to be a child and the changing status of childhood in society. For example, both nostalgic and romanticized memories of the past and memories of trauma and abuse are evoked in assumptions of lost childhood innocence or the eroding of childhood as a time of freedom in contemporary society. Memories of childhood therefore not only shed light on the past, but also present individual and social preoccupations in terms of what is remembered (or forgotten) and how. While the study of adults’ memories of childhood, such as through memoirs and life history interviews, is well established, particularly in historical and cultural studies, it is only more recently that outside of developmental psychology, memory in childhood has emerged as a more significant research focus. Memory in childhood explores the role of children as memory-makers, holders, preservers, and translators, in relation to their own memories and also to the memories of others, whether intergenerational familial memories or wider public or collective memory, such as of conflict, colonialism, or environmental degradation. Here, the majority of research is interdisciplinary, situated at the intersection between memory studies and childhood studies with a focus on memory as an embodied, social, material, and political phenomenon and the ways in which memory shapes individual and collective actions, identities, and narratives. How the figure of the child is mobilized, by whom, and for what purposes are central questions in the politics of memory, particularly representations of children and childhood in memorials, narratives of nation-building, and educational initiatives. Studies of memory and childhood also raise ethical and methodological questions. Which children are remembered and how? Do adults’ memories of childhood have value in understanding childhood in the present? What methods can be used to explore the complexities, dynamics, and often intangible forms of memory in childhood, and what are the ethical implications involved? Considerations of memory and childhood are of interest not only to scholars in the fields of memory studies, childhood studies, and education, but also to practitioners in educational, museum, and cultural heritage sectors.