Collective Memory as Currency

Chapter One Theorizing Collective Memory as Currency

Theoretically, collective memory is a cultural system that provides a framework of meaning; it is both a process and a resource. As a process, it entails an active, highly strategic, and deeply selective practice of remembering wherein specific past events are constructed and reconstructed in light of the present. As a resource, it is useful for consolidating a people as a nation, creating boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them,’ and creating a sense of commonality with others. Broadly, the past is evoked to make sense of the present and as part of this process, it is also used to justify and legitimize policies and actions, and to mobilize people toward a shared agenda.

There is a plethora ...