Transcript Social Memory Presentation - School of Communication and

Social Memory
by James Fentress and
Charles Wickham
Authors’ Background

James Fentress
• Philosophy, PhD Anthropology – lives in Rome
• Great deal of interest in Sicily and specifically
the mafia

Charles Wickham
• Teaches Medieval History at the Univ. of
Birmingham (UK)
• Primarily interested in Western European
History from 400-1250 AD
Aspects of Memory
Words and Things

Visual and mental maps represent things without words
• Direct representation

Text conserves the “memory of things” through the medium
of words
• Indirect Representation
• Literature cultures use words to “semanticize” things, words
are only to remember things

Words/images are generally only relevant in context but
things can be decontextualized

Therefore, in terms of social memory, words and things are
no different
Aspects of Memory

Sensory vs. Semantic Memory
• Recognition
• Recall
• Articulation

Process may be internal or external
• Rose Grower
Main Themes

Examination of public knowledge structures
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Memory Transmission
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Social process
Historical value of memory
Oral and/or written narratives
Information validity vs. context of knowledge creation
Commemoration
• Use by social groups (peasants, working class, etc.)
• Defines present-day
• “Blotting” out
Oral Sources

Anglo-Saxon scop
• Oral Poet
• Auditory memory
• Auditory
structure/framework built
by poets
• Transmission of auditory
structure
Oral Sources

Song of Roland
• Oral/Written epic which is
neither fact nor fiction
• First written version in 11th
Century
• Sensory memory
• Non-linear
• Transmission of familiar,
shared images
Oral Sources

Fairy Tales
• Began orally with
storytellers
• Remembrance of
themes
• Transmission of
common motifs
• Transcend time,
format, and culture
Oral Sources

Decontextualization
• Key to survival of oral narratives
• Certain “things” pass intact from one
social context to another
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Auditory structure in scops
Visual images in Song of Roland
Motifs in fairy tales
Medieval Written Sources

Gregory of Tours – Histories
• Bishop of Tours (539-594)
• Wrote narratives about local
history
• Extremely gossipy, biased
• Break from traditional social
memory
• Represents switch between
king-centered narratives to
local-history narratives
Medieval Written Sources

Charlemagne
• King of the Franks (771-814)
• Ideological manipulation of
memory
• Two principal sets of narratives
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Wise ruler, layman - Einhard
Pious ruler, saint
• Society and politics changes
social memory
• Text content and style affect
social memory
Medieval Written Sources

Icelandic sagas
• Not focused on rulers
• Little national identity existed
• Based on family stories (primarily family
feuds)
• Still used in present day Iceland
• Example of social memory created through
unique, stable narrative conventions
• Example that the rules of narrative must be
understood
Class and Group Memories

Peasant Memories
• Recurring importance of local geography
• Memories constructed outwards
• Community in resistance

Working-Class Memories
• Memories of past define present
• Strikes, labor-resistance, jobs are all
commemorated
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Welsh Miners
Sesto metalworkers
Class and Group Memories

National Memories
• Controversial, political
• Rhetorical discourses
• Internally divisive/divided
• Built upon themes such as Wild West,
French Revolution, etc.
• Generally created by the bourgeoisie,
intellectual class

May be hijacked from lower classes
Sicilian National Identity and the
Mafia

Revolt of the Sicilian Vespers (1282-1302)
• Honorable vengeance, Expulsion of foreign oppressors


Vespers story shaped Sicilian literature, history,
morals, etc. for generations
Vespers national myth created as a result
• Example: Allied Invasion of 1943

Popular uprisings of 1830-1860
• Mafusi formed, considered honorable, freedom-fighters
• Identified with Vespers; source of pride and legitimacy

By 1860, Italy was unified and the perception of
the mafusi altered, now called mafia
• Mafia were considered criminals, troublemakers
Reviews
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Primarily from Anthropology and History
Journals
Generally Mixed Reviews
Positive
• Collaboration between historian and
anthropologist
• Laid groundwork for future research

Negative
• Theoretical basis – too scattered and
overwhelming
• Only 6 pages devoted to women’s memories
My Critique

Theoretical Basis
• Inability to focus theoretical discussion
• Lacked coherence
• Too much unassociated information to
sift through
• Beneficial to examine only a few key
points
Questions

Is memory different than knowledge?

Is there a difference between personal and collective/social
memory?
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Fentress and Wickham claim that memory has subjective,
social characteristics but can also bear objective
information (social facts). In your opinion what affect does
this have on social memory, if any?
Comment on the assertion made by Fentress and Wickham
that the validity of the information or story doesn’t
necessarily matter because social memory is about the
context through which knowledge is created and passed on.
Is social memory a legitimate knowledge structure?