“How Societies Remember” By Paul Connerton Presentation by: Amy Milligan & Ron Gorda

Earlier Research on Memory Inscribed Texts and Traditions Individual Memory Study Social Memory Study

Memory Reliance Personal Memory Cognitive Memory Habit Memory

Connerton and Memory Cultural not individual process Incorporated rather than inscribed Defines culture Establishes order Perpetuates and sustains the culture

Memory & Time Interconnection between past and present Both are interdependent Establishes patterns of perception and behavior

Memory and Society Connects inhabitants of a society Defines the societies purpose Establish social order within that society Becomes its’ history, usually through replacement Past dictates present perceptions and actions Sustains society through repetition and transmission Can be revised over time

Exemplephied by: Rituals or ceremonies Bodily practices

Historic Examples French Revolution Third Reich Religion Rituals – Public Events Bodily Practices – Fashions Third Reich Religion Jews Christians Muslims

French Revolution Rituals - Public Events

French Revolution Bodily Practices - Fashions

Social and Political Research Maurice Halbwachs Maurice Bloch R.A. Rappaport David Efron Thomas Mann

Social and Political Research M. Oakeshot Marcel Proust M. Sahlins P. Winch D. Sudnow

Correlation to Knowledge Structures People as Knowledge Structures through the study of: Inscribed Texts and Traditions People Rituals and Ceremonies Bodily Practices Can then Derive: Group Culture, Social Structure and Politics Motivations or Actions Logic

Reviews Adams, V. (1990). How Societies Remember (review). Sociological Review, 38, 790-794. Separates habit, cognitive and social memory. Dismisses anthropological research on habits and bodily practices Kumar, K. (1990). How Societies Remember (review). Sociology, 24, 568-569. Loose ends Bodily practices & habit memory importance

Question 1 How do these principals apply to our past treatment of the American Indian?

Question 2 How do these principals apply to cults and other radical groups?

Question 3 Do you feel that your personal actions are based upon Connerton’s observations? What is based on Social Memory? What is based on Individual Memory?

Question 4 Can you think of other examples of habit memory that may perpetuate social memory?

Question 5 Do you agree that the form of a ritual or ceremony is more important than the content?

Question 5 If social memory is plastic and changeable, then what is being perpetuated by habit memory? Is it only the feeling of community and connection to the larger group?