Handbook of Culture and Memory

In the Handbook of Culture and Memory, Brady Wagoner and his team of international contributors explore how memory is deeply entwined with social relationships, stories in film and literature, group history, ritual practices, material artifacts, and a host of other cultural devices. Culture is seen as the medium through which people live and make meaning of their lives. In this book, analyses focus on the mutual constitution of people's memories and the social-cultural worlds to which they belong.

The complex relationship between culture and memory is explored in: the concept of memory and its relation to evolution, neurology and history; life course changes in memory from its development in childhood to its decline in old age; and the national and transnational organization of collective memory and identity through narratives propagated in political discourse, the classroom, and the media.

Brady Wagoner is Professor of Psychology at Aalborg University in Denmark. He was the co-creator of the F.C. Bartlett Internet Archive and is associate editor for the journals Culture & Psychology and Peace & Conflict. He received the 'early career award' from Division 26 of the American Psychological Association: the Society for the History of Psychology.

Part I. Concept and History of Memory
Chapter 1: The Evolutionary Origins of Human Cultural Memory
Merlin Donald

Chapter 2: From Memory as Archive to Remembering as Conversation
Jens Brockmeier

Chapter 3: Discerning the History Inscribed Within: Significant Sites of the Narrative Unconscious
Mark Freeman

Part II. Cultural Contexts of Remembering
Chapter 4: The Landscape of Family Memory
Bradd Shore and Sara Kauko

Chapter 5: Materiality of Memory: The Case of the Remembrance Poppy
Kyoko Murakami

Chapter 6: Approaches to Testimony: Two Current Views and Beyond
Kotaro Takagi and Naohisa Mori

Chapter 7: Rethinking Function, Self and Culture, in 'Difficult' Autobiographical Memories
Steve D. Brown and Paula Reavey

Part III. Memory through the Life Course
Chapter 8: The Cultural Construction of Memory in Early Childhood
Katherine Nelson

Chapter 9: Memory in Life Transitions
Constance de Saint Laurent and Tania Zittoun

Chapter 10: Memory in Old Age: A Life-span Perspective
Dieter Ferring

Part IV. Memory, History and Identity
Chapter 11: National Memory and Where to Find It
James V. Wertsch

Chapter 12: History, Collective Memories or National Memories? How the Representation of the Past is Framed by Master Narratives
Mario Carretero and Floor van Alphen

Chapter 13: Media and the Dynamics of Memory: From Cultural Paradigms to Transcultural Mediation
Astrid Erll