On “Storing Information” in Families: (Mediated) Family Memory at the Intersection of Individual and Collective Remembering

Abstract

When approaching “information storage” from a social science perspective, there are different actors and actor constellations that have a stake in the kind of information that is stored, how it is stored, and therefore in determining what is ultimately remembered. Consequently, a continuous interplay between individual and collective dimensions can be observed in the production of memory in societies. This chapter introduces to (cultural) memory research with a focus on family practices of remembering in today’s media environment. We argue that family memory is situated at the intersection between individual and collective memory and can therefore serve to illustrate different strands in interdisciplinary memory research. We first provide a brief overview of memory studies in conjunction with media and then introduce the study of family memory in particular. Secondly, we introduce different ways of researching family memory and illustrate these with a number of examples of empirical studies.