Why collective memory can never be pluriversal

A case for contradiction and abolitionist thinking in memory studies

Bibliographic Data

ID12905261
AuthorsKatrin Antweiler (0000-0002-2585-1229, University of Bremen, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume16
Issue6
Pages1529-1545
Publication date2023-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueMemory Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1750-6980 • E-ISSN: 1750-6999
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/17506980231202337
OpenAlexW4389273687
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited27

Bringing together memory studies with the emerging field of contradiction studies, in this article, I suggest the need for an alternative way of thinking about collective memory by juxtaposing the ideal of wholeness that necessarily underlies any group’s identity with that of the inevitable contradiction of the plurivers. I discuss the power of the Western narrative order in regard to the Haitian Revolution and examples of mnemonic disharmony in contemporary Germany and seek to illuminate the epistemic violence constitutive of this narrative order. The article therefore interrogates memory study’s epistemological foundation and the practices in which these underpinnings result. The aim is to highlight the potential of contradiction in an attempt to pluriversify responses to the past as well as future visions for the worlds we live in. Special attention is paid to the question of what it is we hope for when attempting to (scholarly) contribute to making collective memory more inclusive, and where the limitations of this might lie. The purpose of my contribution, then, is to explore the tacit imperative of harmony that often remains unchallenged in memory studies, and to propose a shift in focus, from the ways in which memory might help us understand (e.g., current clashes of identities), toward a research agenda that is considerate of its own entanglements with power, yet, at the same time, lives up to its potential to contribute to transformation

Cognitive psychology · Collective memory · Contradiction · Epistemology · Mnemonic · Narrative · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · Vision · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Philosophy · Political Theology and Sovereignty · Psychology

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