Remembering Communism examines the formation and transformation of the memory of communism in the post-communist period. The majority of the articles focus on memory practices in the post-Stalinist ...era in Bulgaria and Romania, with occasional references to the cases of Poland and the GDR. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, including history, anthropology, cultural studies and sociology, the volume examines the mechanisms and processes that influence, determine and mint the private and public memory of communism in the post-1989 era. The common denominator to all essays is the emphasis on the process of remembering in the present, and the modalities by means of which the present perspective shapes processes of remembering, including practices of commemoration and representation of the past.
Cold war cultures Vowinckel, Annette; Payk, Marcus M; Lindenberger, Thomas
2012., 20120315, 2012, 2012-03-15, 20120101
eBook
The Cold War was not only about the imperial ambitions of the super powers, their military strategies, and antagonistic ideologies. It was also about conflicting worldviews and their correlates in ...the daily life of the societies involved. The term "Cold War Culture" is often used in a broad sense to describe media influences, social practices, and symbolic representations as they shape, and are shaped by, international relations. Yet, it remains in question whether - or to what extent - the Cold War Culture model can be applied to European societies, both in the East and the West. While every European country had to adapt to the constraints imposed by the Cold War, individual development was affected by specific conditions as detailed in these chapters. This volume offers an important contribution to the international debate on this issue of the Cold War impact on everyday life by providing a better understanding of its history and legacy in Eastern and Western Europe.
Now available to an English-speaking audience, this book presents a groundbreaking theoretical analysis of memory, identity and culture. It investigates how cultures remember, arguing that human ...memory exists and is communicated in two ways, namely inter-human interaction and in external systems of notation, such as writing, which can span generations. Dr Assmann defines two theoretical concepts of cultural memory, differentiating between the long-term memory of societies, which can span up to 3,000 years, and communicative memory, which is typically restricted to 80 to 100 years. He applies this theoretical framework to case studies of four specific cultures, illustrating the function contexts and specific achievements, including the state, international law, religion and science. Ultimately, his research demonstrates that memory is not simply a means of retaining information, but rather a force that can shape cultural identity and allow cultures to respond creatively to both daily challenges and catastrophic changes.
The Second World War was filled with many terrible crimes, such as genocide, forced migration and labour, human-made famine, forced sterilizations, and dispossession, that occurred on an ...unprecedented scale. Authenticity and Victimhood after the Second World War examines victim groups constructed in the twentieth century in the aftermath of these experiences. The collection explores the concept of authenticity through an examination of victims’ histories and the construction of victimhood in Europe and East Asia. Chapters consider how notions of historical authenticity influence the self-identification and public recognition of a given social group, the tensions arising from individual and group experiences of victimhood, and the resulting, sometimes divergent, interpretation of historical events.
Drawing from case studies on topics including the Holocaust, the siege of Leningrad, American air raids on Japan, and forced migrations from Eastern Europe, Authenticity and Victimhood after the Second World War demonstrates the trend towards a victim-centred collective memory as well as the interplay of memory politics and public commemorative culture.
Abstract This article accounts for the partial result of the memory workshops implemented by black communities of the inter-Andean valley of the Patía River (Colombia) in their research, recovery, ...and revitalization of cultural traditions in the region process. The first three sections present a brief conceptual development on the role of collective memory as a re-existence device and a contextualization of the emergence of the recovery process of cultural traditions in the communities described. In close relationship with the previous ones, the fourth section offers development on the meaning and symbolic value of the narrations sung and prayed as forms that particularize how communities relate to the sacred and face spirituality and religiosity. Memorias Obstinadas o de la Obstinación de las Memorias Si bien se encuentran diferentes y valiosas formas de sustentar y acoger el tema de la memoria, asumimos aquí algunos desarrollos provenientes de la antropología, la sociología, la historia y los estudios culturales, como unidades de análisis que permiten situar conceptualmente la problemática que nos ocupa.
This book is a fascinating study of the Vietnamese experience and memory of the Vietnam War through the lens of popular imaginings about the wandering souls of the war dead. These ghosts of war play ...an important part in postwar Vietnamese historical narrative and imagination, and Heonik Kwon explores the intimate ritual ties with these unsettled identities which still survive in Vietnam today as well as the actions of those who hope to liberate these hidden but vital historical presences from their uprooted social existence. Taking a unique approach to the cultural history of war, he introduces gripping stories about spirits claiming social justice and about his own efforts to wrestle with the physical and spiritual presence of ghosts. Although these actions are fantastical, this book shows how examining their stories can illuminate critical issues of war and collective memory in Vietnam and the modern world more generally.
Se revisan y sintetizan 10 estudios de recuerdo libre sobre memoria colectiva en América Latina, Europa y Palestina. Prevalecen la política, la violencia colectiva y la guerra, si bien alrededor del ...50% de los acontecimientos fueron valorados positivamente, desconfirmando un sesgo negativo en la memoria colectiva. Sin embargo, en Palestina los eventos mayormente recordados fueron total o parcialmente negativos, reflejando su situación conflictiva. Se confirma un socio-centrismo parcial: en América Latina y Palestina la mayoría de los acontecimientos fueron nacionales. Un meta-análisis confirma un efecto generacional en 24/100 acontecimientos. Los eventos negativos se asociaron a bajo bienestar social en Palestina. Los resultados se discuten en el marco de los procesos de memoria colectiva y las representaciones sociales de la historia.
