Historical Memory

The concept of “historical memory,” often expressed as “collective memory,” “social memory,” or for political scientists, “the politics of memory,” refers to the ways in which groups, collectivities, and nations construct and identify with particular narratives about historical periods or events. Historical memories are foundational to social and political identities and are also often reshaped in relation to the present historical-political moment. In this entry, the origins and uses of this concept in contemporary political science are discussed. This applies particularly to recent transitions from authoritarian rule and the formation of newly democratizing political cultures.

The study of memory has a long tradition in other social science disciplines. Yet until fairly recently, political scientists tended to dismiss historical memory as a conceptual or research arena. There seemed to be three general reasons for this: First, political scientists saw memory as too subjective, as properly the realm of psychology, difficult to measure, quantify, and operationalize in ways that could be compared and generalized. Second, political scientists tended to hold that “relevant” memory belongs to the discipline of history, of sorting facts, validity, and particularities, and that particularities were simply not what was driving the discipline of political science. It was for the historians to decide what constituted the dividing line between memory and history. Third, political scientists tended to view collective memories as codified in social and political institutions, and therefore it was more useful to study institutions than memories. Institutions enshrine memories.

Despite these biases against the study of memory as a lens on politics, political scientists have come to appreciate that historical memories powerfully influence politics in observable as well as subjective ways; that they are constructions of fact, myth, and interpretation; and that they fall outside the rubric of institutions as usefully understood. Historical memories are the less conventionally institutionalized dimensions of politics—symbols and sites for contestation, associations, palpably expressed through representations, testimonials, imagery, the media, public opinion, and political discourse.

In political contexts that involve transitions from conflict, war, and repression, all of which involve traumatic individual and collective experiences, collective memories prove difficult to ignore politically. Memories often become mobilized to challenge opponents, including the state. States themselves can be aggressive as purveyors of national memory, illustrated by the recent proliferation of officially sponsored truth commissions and “museums of memory” around the globe. Implicitly, the nation-state has always been preoccupied with developing a national memory that exudes unity, continuity, stability, and purpose. This is often expressed through commemoration, educational textbooks, and official political rhetoric. There is a significant and growing set of debates on statecraft, the nation and memory, or the memory-nation.