Julia Sobczak

ZSM1 325842
MA Seminar Class

Astrid Erll “Travelling Memory”

In her article “Travelling Memory” Astrid Erll discusses the notion of transcultural memory

as it concerns the field of memory studies. Erll highlights two distinctive eras of research on

cultural memory. Scholars such as Aby Warburg, Maurice Halbwachs and Walter Benjamin

began researching the field of cultural memory as an area of study in the twentieth century in

a part of the first phase. Later, in the mid-1980s, French historian Pierre Nora started working

on memory and identity and the publication of his Les lieux de memoire in 1984 can be

regarded as the start of the second one. The outset of memory studies in the 1920s stems from

the concept of culture which provided valuable contribution to the field in its beginnings.

Since then memory studies have been a part of a movement that broadened the areas of study

and reinterpreted the humanities as cultural studies. As a result of that that scholars have

established different theories and types of memory based on different fields of study such as

philosophy and social sciences. The concept of transcultural memory was developed by

academics who based their work on transcultural studies. This refers to the process of how

both collective and individual memories transform and move across different cultures and

contexts. Although the mechanisms of how memory travels can be described, scholars are

unable to predict the outcomes of this process. Memory can "travel" through a number of

dimensions, like media, carriers of memory, contents of memory, behaviours and practices,

and forms. Memory shaping occurs as a result of how individuals utilise it in certain situations

and in certain contexts. The dynamic and ever-changing nature of memory is referred to as

travelling memory. People and forms are constantly moving during the memory-production
process, which is necessary for memory to have any influence. Thus, cultural memory studies

are interpreted differently by different countries and academic fields due to the fact that

cultural memory is a result of transcultural movements. And as a result, they might not be

enough to address the complexity of the modern world.

Bibliography

Erll, Astrid. “Travelling Memory.” Parallax, vol. 17, no. 4, Nov. 2011, pp. 4–18,

https://doi.org/10.1080/13534645.2011.605570.

Micheal Rothberg “Multidirectional Memory”

In the introduction to his book Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the

Age of Decolonization Michael Rothberg discusses the idea of collective memory and shows

how societies prioritise and remember different historical events such as wars or genocides.

Rothberg writes about how victims in way compete to be remembered for different historical

tragedies According to him, certain events seem to be given a greater significance in

collective memory than others. A person may be viewed as a villain in one nation and a hero

in another, depending on the context. In order highlight the multifaceted nature of memory

and how it might promote recognition of other historical events, Rothberg uses the Holocaust

as an example. He argues that people frequently establish a hierarchy of suffering in which

the pain and suffering of one group are deemed to be more "valuable" than those of the other.

The idea of multidirectional memory is derived from this hierarchy of pain, as defined by

Rothberg. He suggests that memories are not isolated but rather interact and influence people

without losing their significance, Additionally, Rothberg introduces the idea of

multidimensional history, which claims that different historical accounts and narratives can

coexist and have an impact on one another without being in conflict. Rothberg's

theory investigates the relationship between memory and identity of different societies in

different contexts. According to the author, memories are not exclusive to any particular

social group and do not define the identity of a person. Furthermore, Rothberg introduces

Freud's concept of screen memory, where he states that happy memories tend to dominate and

overshadow the negative ones. This Freudian theory, which posits that collective memory can

both reveal and conceal suppressed history, is essential in understanding multidirectional

memory. In the end Rothberg presents the notions of multidirectional and multidimensional

approaches to collective memory together as an explanation of how societies remember their

pasts.

Bibliography

Rothberg, Michael. Multidirectional Memory : Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of

Decolonization. Stanford, Ca, Stanford University Press, 2006.