The Impact of Online Space on Cultural Memory

The article is devoted to the study of the theory of media memory and its role in the construction of collectively shared ideas about the past. The author proceeds in his work from McLuhan’s expansive interpretation of media. The processes of mediatization of communicative and cultural memory are being analyzed. Considering the views of Y. M. Lotman and J. Assman on cultural and communicative memory, the author comes to the conclusion that their theories explaining the functioning of collective memory in the era of oral and written communication, cease to work when describing the mechanisms of memory reproduction in the digital environment. Theories of mediatization of memory regard communicative memory are limited to J. Assman’s understanding of, that is, as a memory of the recent past covered by the time of the existence of contemporary digital media. Based on the works of J. Garde-Hansen, E. Hopkins and others, the author considered the theory of digital memory showing its difference from mediamemory. The processes of mediatization of collective memory in the digital environment lead to the emergence of media memory as a special virtual mechanism for constructing ideas about the past. Media memory possesses the characteristics of communicative, cultural and digital memory simultaneously, being a phenomenon of the digital era, where the change in the means of communication has led to the transformation of the content of memories and ways of their reproduction.

Keywords: collective memory, cultural memory, memory studies, mnemohistory. This article outlines some recent achievements and new perspectives in contemporary memory studies. It first gives an overview of the recent handbooks and anthologies of memory studies, which mark the emergence of a kind of meta-memory research and testify to the institutionalization of the young discipline. More precisely, these three anthologies are discussed: “Theories of memory: a reader” (2007), ed. by Michael Rossington and Anne Whitehead; “Memory: an anthology” (2008), ed. by Harriet Harvey Wood and A. S. Byatt; “The collective memory reader” (2011), ed. by Jeffrey K. Olick, Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi and Daniel Levy; as well as three recent handbooks: “Cultural memory studies: an international and interdisciplinary handbook (2008), ed. by Astrid Erll and Ansgar Nunning; “Gedachtnis und Erinnerung: ein interdisziplinares Handbuch” (2010) ed. by Christian Gudehus, Ariane Eichenberg and Harald Welzer; “Memory: histories, theories, debates” (2010), ed. by Susannah Radstone and Bill Schwartz. Secondly, the article discusses the emergence of cultural memory studies, one of the most fruitful and promising trends in the collective memory studies of the last decade. Contemporary memory studies are rooted in sociology, particularly the works of Maurice Halbwachs; however, it seems that over the last decade, memory studies have been dominated by a ‘cultural turn’, with the more innovative and attractive ideas originating from cultural theorists and cultural historians. The most important shapers of this turn have most probably been the German scholars, Aleida and Jan Assmann, coming from English studies and Egyptology, respectively, who in the 1990s worked out a new influential model of analysis for memory studies, centered on the concept of ‘cultural memory’. Next to the Assmanns, the recent publications of Astrid Erll (“Memory in culture”, 2011) and Ann Rigney (“The afterlives of Walter Scott: memory on the move”, 2012) also are discussed, concluding that contemporary cultural memory studies stress primarily the dynamics, intermediality, and performativity of remembering. And finally, the article addresses the old debate on the relationship of history and memory, in order to propose an alternative conceptual framework for it and demonstrate the perspectives opened by a new avenue of research, mnemohistory. In the mnemohistorical perspective, the key question of historical research is not about the original significance of past events, but rather about how these events emerge in specific instances and are then translated over time, and about their everyday actualization and propagation. Mnemohistory enables the historian – better than before – to encompass the two levels he or she is simultaneously working on: the historicization of the phenomenon of the past, and the historicization of their own work. To conclude with, the article argues that the proliferation of memory studies in particular and the social ‘memory boom’ in general can be regarded as symptomatic of a much more general epistemological shift, the emergence of a new, presentist regime of historicity (new ways of articulating the categories of the past, the present and the future). A presentist regime of historicity implies a new mode of understanding time, an abandoning of the linear, causal and homogeneous conception of time characteristic of the previous, modernist regime of historicity. It has made possible a shift of the historian’s gaze so that the past no longer appears as something final and irreversible but persists in many ways in the present. It is plausible that these developments in general, as well as the meteoric rise of the concept of memory in particular, have irreversibly changed both the nature and outlook of history writing. Marek Tamm (b. 1973) is Associate Professor of Cultural History, Estonian Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University.

This article asks how we can understand processes of regional integration through the lens of memory. Regional integration, despite its taking place in the here and now, rests on acts of cultural recall. Socially shared versions of history, concepts of identity, values and norms, stereotypes, and prejudices as well as certain modes of behavior are usually formed in long historical processes and become part of a “cultural memory.” Cultural memory is one of the “soft factors” which are inevitably at work in the negotiation of economical questions, energy and power politics—the “hard factors” of regional integration, as it were. It can affect the way in which processes of regional integration function, or fail to do so. And it often does so in ways that social groups are not even conscious of. The article will present theories of cultural memory put forward by Maurice Halbwachs, Pierre Nora, and Aleida and Jan Assmann as well as recent trends in research on “transcultural memory” and ask about their implications for the study of regional integration.

Background: Athletes obtain nutrition information from a number of sources, with some being more accurate than others. Little is known about athletes’ perceptions of utilizing Certified Athletic Trainers (ATs) as a primary source of information. Objective: We sought to 1) examine the primary sources of nutrition information among a group of United States collegiate athletes and 2) understand athletes’ perceptions regarding utilization of their ATs as primary sources of nutrition information. Methods: Participants (Division II university athletes) completed an online questionnaire (n=155;n=58 males, n=97 females) assessing demographic information and ranked primary sources of nutrition information, and participated in focus groups (n=26;n=18 women, n=8 men) to better understand barriers/perceptions for using their ATs for nutrition information. Mean + SD ranking were calculated for all sources. Mann Whitney-U analyses were used to identify differences in rank order nutrition sources between genders and years of collegiate experience. Semi-structured focus groups were transcribed, coded, and themes were identified regarding barriers to utilizing ATs for nutrition-related information. Results: Parents (3.54±2.38) and the internet (3.69±2.29) had the highest mean ranks. ATs were least often ranked as the number one nutrition source (7.5%), among all sources provided. Barriers to utilizing ATs for nutritional information included discomfort, nutrition information not being within the scope of practice, lack of knowledge, the athletic trainer not caring, and lack of time. Conclusions: Participants reported utilizing ATs less than previous research indicates. Continuing education may be needed to improve the efficacy of ATs in addressing nutritional issues and being seen as a credible and accessible source. Keywords: Diet, Athlete perceptions, Barriers

Purpose of the study: This study focuses on analyzing and locating the cultural images and the elements which present the idea of cultural erosion, and with the lens of cultural memory evokes the idea of identity, and nostalgia in Taufiq Rafat’s poetry.
 Methodology: This research is qualitative in design. To explore the concepts of cultural memory and cultural erosion Purposive sampling is used for the selection of the poems. For analysis, textual and descriptive methods of analysis are used. Jan Assmann's (cultural theorist and archaeologist) theory of cultural memory serves as a theoretical framework for this study.
 Main Findings: From the analysis, it is explored that Rafat’s poetry discerns the concepts of cultural erosion and cultural memory. In the majority of his poems, few dominant images are used repeatedly to strengthen the notion of memory and yearning for the past such as time (clock), the flow of time which is fleeting and nontransient. He not only laments on cultural erosion but also keeps his personal and social memories, traditions, ancient civilizations, rituals, and objects alive so that they could be transferred to the next generations to establish mnemonics.
 Applications of the study: This research may be beneficial to those studying Anthropology, Culture Studies, History, South Asian Literature, and Sociology. Furthermore, the interpretation of major symbols and images related to the culture, and history which evoke cultural memory, and erosion will pave the way for the deconstruction of symbols in poetry.
 The novelty of the study: Rafat’s poetry is enriched with natural and romantic images, the depiction of beauty and culture about which many studies are available. The significance of this study lies in the fact that the concept of cultural memory from his poems has been evoked and analyzed.

Memory, commemoration, and historical reenactment are closely related to one another. In a theoretical sense, all three terms refer to ways of representing the past in the present, both on an individual as well as a collective level. The contemporary discipline of memory studies has been largely inspired by the rediscovery and rereading of the works of French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs. Cultural memory refers to events of a pre-biographical past, which cannot be experienced by living individuals and thus has to be mediated by culture. Aleida Assmann further elaborates on Jan Assmann’s theory of cultural memory and distinguishes between three dimensions of memory: neuronal, social, and cultural memory. Reenactment is then strongly connected to individual and collective forms of memory. As a commemorative act, reenactments revive past events in the present and thus (re)shape the memory of these events. Commemorations as a distinctive form of collective memory contain the most similarities to reenactment as a social practice.

In the 1990s, the Egyptologist Jan Assmann emerged as the most important contributor to German discussions of collective memory. This paper investigates, first, to what extent Assmann's theory of communicative and cultural memory is a generalization of his work on the “bi-materiality” of Egyptian culture, and second, how his controversial notion of the “Mosaic distinction” is linked to his work on the traumatic impact of Akhenaten's religious reforms.

This chapter shows that the analytical approach lieux de memoire as proposed by the French historian Pierre Nora promises to offer new insight into the discussion of the origin and nature of collective identities, by Anthony Smith's approach of primordialism and the theory of communicative and cultural memory formulated by Jan and Aleida Assmann. The lieux de memoire with memory being a living organism - are able to explain how representations in this context work and how their discursive power can be understood by considering the various social and political actors that are responsible for the creation and propagation of places of memory, without excluding or suppressing contesting definitions of memory. It argues that the memory theory helps in the understanding of how lieux de memoire function in the realm of collective memory. Keywords:China; cultural memory; lieux de memoire ; memory theory; primordialism

This study compares Yusuf and Zuleikha and The Waste Land within the framework of teleological and ateleological constructions of the “desert/waste land” archetype. It draws on a four-disciplinary framework incorporating Mircea Eliade’s sacred/profane dialectic, Victor Turner’s liminality theory, Northrop Frye’s archetypal criticism, and Jan Assmann’s cultural memory theory. In Yusuf and Zuleikha, the desert is a purposeful testing ground within the divine order; the famine is managed with revelation-based foresight and justice, ending in social cohesion and moral renewal. Within a teleological structure, crisis serves the cycle of transformation and rebirth. Cultural memory is sustained through a religious context; the archetypal winter turns to spring. In The Waste Land, the desert is a symbolic plane whose meaning has eroded. Sacred signs appear as aesthetic remnants detached from their contexts; the liminal process remains incomplete, and renewal does not occur. The ateleological structure results in ongoing suspension and fragmented cultural memory. The archetypal cycle is withheld, turning the desert into a “space of ultimate void.” The study shows that the desert archetype is not universal but a flexible narrative structure shaped by culture and context. In one tradition, it is a “space of healing,” in the other, a “space of stasis.” This contrast highlights the role of cultural, theological, and mnemonic infrastructures in producing meaning in literary archetypes. The findings reveal the necessity of contextual and interdisciplinary approaches in archetypal analysis. The desert thus emerges not only as a spatial backdrop but as an epistemic mirror reflecting a culture’s existential trial.

This paper applies the theory of cultural memory, proposed by Jan Assmann, to the study of the Chinese classical novel A Dream of Red Mansions. The first part of this paper introduces the historical development of Cultural Memory theory and its features. In the second part of the paper, it applies Cultural Memory theory to the narrative structure and novel characters research of A Dream of Red Mansions. Through analysis, the complexity and inherent contradictions in the narrative structure of A Dream of Red Mansions provide evidence for the hypothesis that A Dream of Red Mansions is a combination of Mirror for The Romantic and The Story of Stone. A Dream of Red Mansions may have more than one author, besides Cao Xueqin, another author is Cao Xueqin's elder, who experienced the rise and fall of the Cao family firsthand. This also explains the contradictions in the character images in A Dream of Red Mansions, especially the persona of Jia Baoyu, which consisted of the authors' life experience and ideal personality. The novel A Dream of Red Mansions has a dual nature of cultural memory.

Considering digital cultural heritage as the digitalized assets from memory institutions and digital born art, this paper aims to build on its current normative definitions. This first notion addresses the subtle, yet complex relationship between technology and culture. In addition, we consider the criteria set for defining heritage in memory theorization. By doing so, we want to challenge the lack of uniform standards and approaches in dealing with digital cultural heritage and to give Aleida and Jan Assmann's Theory of Cultural Memory a normative dimension. Can there be a cultural memory of the digital age?

This paper investigates how the ritual performances of the Mohan-Deodhai-Bailung community of Assam function as embodied archives that preserve and transmit cultural memory and communal identity. As priest-healers deeply rooted in indigenous epistemologies, the Mohan, Deodhai, and Bailung perform ceremonial practices that not only mediate between the natural and spiritual realms but also encode historical consciousness and ancestral narratives. Drawing on Richard Schechner’s theory of performance as restored behaviour and Jan Assmann’s theory of cultural memory, the study situates these ritual actions as dynamic, performative texts through which oral knowledge, cosmology, and social cohesion are enacted and remembered. Based on ethnographic observation and cultural performance analysis, the paper reveals how gesture, chant, sacred objects, and spatial arrangements are employed to transmit indigenous knowledge across generations. In doing so, it argues that the ceremonial practices of the Mohan-Deodhai-Bailung are not static traditions but evolving cultural repositories—resilient and responsive to external pressures while safeguarding a unique worldview. These rituals emerge as critical to understanding the role of performance in sustaining identity, healing memory, and affirming indigenous sovereignty in contemporary Assam.

This study explores the processes of appropriation and the formation of cultural memory in independence movement songs associated with General Kim Jwajin. The research focuses on three categories: (1) songs attributed to Kim as lyricist, (2) songs reportedly sung by Kim and his troops, and (3) post-liberation popular songs inspired by his life. Drawing mainly on primary sources such as Songs of the Independence Army: The Pulse of Baedal and Selected Songs of the Korean-Chinese Anti-Japanese Struggle, this study analyzes lyrics, melody, and rhythm, interpreting them through Jan Assmann’s theory of cultural memory. The analysis reveals that March of Victory demonstrates the “appropriation of form” through subversive adaptation of Japanese military songs; Logging Song embodies the “appropriation of rhythm” by transforming labor rhythm into the cadence of determination; and Song of Yongjin achieves the “appropriation of belief,” merging conviction with action. The songs of Kim’s troops (Thoughts of Home, Thinking of Mother, Let Us Learn) extend these practices into emotional, ethical, and educational dimensions of cultural memory, while the 1950s popular song General Kim Jwajin of the Forest reconfigures them into a “reappropriation of memory.” Although conclusive evidence of Kim’s authorship is lacking, this study demonstrates that the songs associated with him functioned not merely as historical records but also as artistic languages of resistance and mnemonic devices that sustained cultural memory across generations.

Chapter 1 lays out the methodology of the study. It introduces William A. Johnson’s theory of ancient reading cultures and Jan Assmann’s theory of cultural memory (kulturelles Gedächtnis) and cultural texts (kulturelle Texte). A key aspect of Johnson’s theory is the “bookroll-as-object.” He demonstrates that in some cultural contexts, the scroll as a material object became an emblem of group identity. A key aspect of Assmann’s theory is that texts cross the threshold from collective memory to cultural memory by means of textualization. Additionally, Assmann describes manuscripts as part of the decorated material culture of a group, and thereby also sees them as symbols of group identity. Both of these scholars point to how manuscripts, as part of a group’s material culture, contributed to the processes of identity construction and maintenance.

The eastern expansion of the European Union confronts the process of European integration with the phenomenon of cultural and ethnic nationalism. This paper examines the situation of Poland, using Jan Assmann's theory of cultural memory to reconstruct the historical dimension of Polish nationalism which underlies the current constructions of the Polish nation. Understanding itself as the antemurale Europae christianiae, Poland owns an old tradition of resistance. This tradition allowed this country to survive times of division and oppression but now turns against the European Union.