Social sciences recently experienced a "memory boom." Collective memory is the new en vogue concept, generating much theoretical discussion. Within the memory studies books, which one stands out as must read? Which title is on the way of becoming a classic of memory studies?
Hello Sandra,
seems like an interesting book indeed. Only that, from my experience with edited volumes like the one you pointed out, these type of books are generally lacking unity, coherence, and a red thread running through all the texts. But, because I'm not a dogmatic empiricist, I'm gonna give it a shot, hoping to refute my experience.
Hi Mihai,
as the field is still developing, it is really hard to say which book will become a classic; additionally, this will depend on where in the social sciences you are situated. In case you haven't come across this - edited I'm sorry to say - volume, I found it very helpful for the overview it provides
Erll, Astrid; Nünning, Ansgar (eds.): Cultural Memory Studies: An International and Interdisciplinary Handbook. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008.
You find a review under this link: http://kult-online.uni-giessen.de/wps/pgn/home/KULT_online/22-11/
Monika
Hello Monika,
I know the book, I found some of the texts very useful in fashioning my own view on cultural memory, especially Aleida Assmann and Jan Assmann's contributions on the relationship between canon and archive, and on the distinction between communicative and cultural memory respectively. By the way, I have a sociological anchorage, and maybe this is why I think that this collective volume is to spread all across disciplines (from the psychology of memory to literary criticism). I do not consider this book to be "interdisciplinary" as it is claimed in the title, but "multi-disciplinary", i.e. lacking internal coherence and too inclusive. In my opinion, a field of study, however interdisciplinary aspires to become, must exclude some approaches. Otherwise it will tend towards totality.
I think that a really useful edited volume is "The Collective Memory Reader," which can be used both as a bibliographical tool, and as a guide in the ever expanding field of memory studies.
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