Abstract
Though scholars in memory studies often deal with different aspects of cultural memory, it is rare to find any systematic framework to which memory adheres to and which would explain the emergence and maintenance of memories in general. In this article, I use the concepts of Judith Butler’s theory of performativity, namely interpellation, subject constitution, repetition, sedimentation, citationality and subversion, to show how she could provide a procedural account of memory formation. To illustrate how this might work, I look at how Turkey has chosen to commemorate the failed coup of July 2016 by interpreting some examples of such memory through Butler’s theories. In doing so, I show that Butler, rather than introducing new concepts to the field, offers a systematic framework that can relate scholars to one another by transposing their concepts onto Butler’s theory.
Highlights
While the field of cultural memory studies has branched out and risen to prominence in recent decades, critics repeatedly complain that cultural memory is, in the words of Alon Confino, “more practiced than theorized,” leaving memory studies with a rather basic question: how does memory work? (2010: 79)
How one is remembered becomes enmeshed in how one is permitted or allotted to be remembered. This assertion makes Butler’s inquiry into livable lives, or rather “memorable” lives, an increasingly urgent issue: “What makes for a livable life is no idle question
As we saw from the oral testimonies, hundreds of thousands of memories were delegitimized within a matter of days, as TurkeyPurge.com kept track of
Summary
While the field of cultural memory studies has branched out and risen to prominence in recent decades, critics repeatedly complain that cultural memory is, in the words of Alon Confino, “more practiced than theorized,” leaving memory studies with a rather basic question: how does memory work? (2010: 79). I use an interpretation of Judith Butler’s theory of performativity as a way to address these quandaries of memory. While cultural memory has not shied away from engaging with postmodern thinkers, there has not been much serious engagement with Butler This incorporation would allow one to better understand, on a symbolic level, how cultural memory comes about and why it functions as it does, which could greatly enrich the field and add new perspectives. This is not to argue that other approaches to memory are erroneous or inferior in the least, merely that different approaches have different aims. As is returned to in the conclusion, Butler’s philosophy allows us to ask which lives are memorable, or which society sees as “worth” remembering
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