Social Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives

by Jacob J. Climo, Maria G. Cattell, Robert R. Archibald, Adina Cimet, Jacob Climo

Overview

In Social Memory and History, a group of anthropologists, sociologists, social linguists, gerontologists, and historians explore the ways in which memory reconstructs the past and constructs the present. A substantial introduction by the editors outlines the key issues in the understanding of social memory: its nature and process, its personal and political implications, the crisis in memory, and the relationship between social and individual memory. Ten cross-cultural case studies—groups ranging from Kiowa songsters, Burgundian farmers, elderly Phildelaphia whites, Chilean political activists, American immigrants to Israel, and Irish working class women—then explore how social memory transmits culture or contests it at the individual, community, and national levels in both tangible and symbolic spheres.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759101777
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	10/23/2002
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	6.16(w) x 9.24(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Climo is an anthropologist at Michigan State University. Cattell is a research associate in anthropology at The Field Museum, Chicago.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction: Meaning in Social Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives Part 2 Part I: Continuity in Memory, History, and Culture Chapter 3 Chapter 1: Exploring Venues of Social Memory Chapter 4 Chapter 2: It Wasn't a Woman's World: Memory Construction and the Culture of Control in a North of Ireland Parish Chapter 5 Chapter 3: A Personal History of Memory Chapter 6 Chapter 4: Remembering the Past, Re-Membering the Present: Elders' Constructions of Place and Self in a Philadelphia Neighborhood Chapter 7 Chapter 5: The Cemetery: A Site for Construction of Memory, Identity, and Ethnicity Chapter 8 Chapter 6: Memories of the American Jewish Aliyah: Connecting Individual and Collective Experience Part 9 Part II Contested Memory and History Chapter 10 Chapter 7: Kiowa: On Song and Memory Chapter 11 Chapter 8: Symbolic Violence and Language: Mexico and Its Uses of Symbols Part 12 Part III Reconciliation and Redress Chapter 13 Chapter 9: Remembering and Forgetting: Creative Expression and Reconciliation in Post-Pinochet Chile Chapter 14 Chapter 10: The Meshingomesia Indian Village Schoolhouse in Memory and History Part 15 Bibliography Part 16 Index Part 17 About the Authors

Editorial Reviews

Climo and Cattell’s collection of essays from a variety of fields address important issues related to understanding the construction of social memory. The contributing authors provide 10 case studies that demonstrate how memory transmits culture or contests it at the individual, community, and national levels. While the volume reaches across disciplines, it is also a major contribution to anthropology and it should be read by students and scholars interested in how history and anthropology can work together.

Paul Shackel

Reviewing the connection between memory, history, and meaning, this volume is well researched, detailed, and thoughtful. It stresses the anthropological perspective that memory is dependent on culture and context. It is an excellent précis of how memory is constructed, how it works or does not work, and how individuals and different groups of people view it.

Marjorie M. Schweitzer

The impressive breadth of material included in this volume reflects just how encompassing the concept of social or collective memory has become...The essays in Social Memory and History reflect both the strengths and potential pitfalls of current social memory research.

The Public Historian - Jason James

Each one of the chapters in this collection is creditable, and yet overall there is an imperative to pull together the flourish of innovative work on social memory and history, both within and beyond anthropology.

Cultural and Social History

The impressive breadth of material included in this volume reflects just how encompassing the concept of social or collective memory has become...The essays in Social Memory and History reflect both the strengths and potential pitfalls of current social memory research.
— Jason James, Lafayette College

The Public Historian