Collective memory is a dynamic topic that can be discussed through a number of disciplines. In my paper I will attempt to dissect this subject of collective memory as clear and consisely as possible through the exploration of narratives, novels, music, poetry and history. .
Collective memory is defined as the breadth of procedural knowledge the community acquires through experience when interacting with each other and the world. Research in collective memory is a relatively new area capturing the interest of scholars in social psychology, memory, sociology, and anthropology -- that our own memories are not entirely personal. The core idea is that collective attitudes and behaviors are created and shared through common experiences and communication among a group of people. Sometimes we are confronted with memory criticism.
What is meant by memory criticism is simply close readings that people do, people coming from a number of different disciplines, when we look at sites of remembrance. This could be texts, movies, monuments, ceremonies, rituals, cemeteries, anything which marks memory. What is meant by "we", is a little more complicated. We all come from different intellectual traditions, we use different analytical tools, maybe we should know what we are doing and why, when we critically approach how the past is dealt with. So there is that agenda. But the more I think about it, the more I really want to speak about the collective "we", occasionally, or often, attending to the past, or to remembrance. .
In an ad in Harpers magazine, for Zeiss binoculars (that's a German company), their quality was attested to by the fact that these binoculars were regularly used by the border guards at the Wall in Berlin and look at how successfully they caught so many people. Now, it is very difficult to define what got broken here. But it's a similar idea, I think, to what is behind people's opposition to Disney doing exhibits about slavery in theme parks.
