Collective Memory

Why do we eat sardines, but never goldfish; ducks, but never parrots? Why does adding cheese make a hamburger a "cheeseburger" whereas adding ketchup does not make it a "ketchupburger"? By the same token, how do we determine which things said at a meeting should be included in the minutes and which ought to be considered "off the record" and officially disregarded?

In this wide-ranging and provocative book, Eviatar Zerubavel argues that cognitive science cannot answer these questions, since it addresses cognition on only two levels: the individual and the universal. To fill the gap between the Romantic vision of the solitary thinker whose thoughts are the product of unique experience, and the cognitive-psychological view, which revolves around the search for the universal foundations of human cognition, Zerubavel charts an expansive social realm of mind--a domain that focuses on the conventional, normative aspects of the way we think.

With witty anecdote and revealing analogy, Zerubavel illuminates the social foundation of mental actions such as perceiving, attending, classifying, remembering, assigning meaning, and reckoning th

Roudometof analyzes rival national claims over Macedonia. He examines the symbolic struggle among Greeks, Bulgarians, and Macedonians, as well as the struggle of Albanians for self-determination in Kosovo and western Macedonia, and he deconstructs the national narratives of competing sides and provides an alternative interpretation of Macedonian nation formation.

Rather than considering thought as just an individual act, Culture in Mind considers it in a social and cultural context. Covering such diverse topics as the nature of evil, the process of storytelling and the defining mental illness, these essays offer fresh insights into the functioning of the mind.

This book draws on psychology, history, literary theory, semiotics, sociology, and political science to provide a comprehensive review of collective memory. It outlines a particular way that narratives produced by the modern state are consumed by individuals. These issues are examined with the help of examples from the transformation Russia has undergone as it entered its post-Soviet era. This is a case study of how a modern state can lose control of collective memory and how memory can be regenerated in unique ways.

This book explores the formation of the African-American identity through the theory of cultural trauma. The trauma in question is slavery, not as an institution or as personal experience, but as collective memory--a pervasive remembrance that grounded a people's sense of itself. Ron Eyerman offers insights into the intellectual and generational conflicts of identity-formation which have a truly universal significance, and provides a new and compelling account of the birth of African-American identity.

How has memory--collective and individual--influenced European politics in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Cold War? How has the past been used in domestic struggles for power, and how have 'historical lessons' been applied in foreign policy? This book is the first to examine the connection between memory and politics directly. The chapters combine theoretical innovation with historical, empirically-grounded case studies of major European countries. This ground-breaking book will be of interest to historians of contemporary Europe, political scientists and sociologists.