Knowledge, Cultural Memory, and Politics

Abstract

After categorizing different types of collective memories, the author discusses tensions between collective memories and the knowledge of individuals. He notes that collective memories are often based on Manichean morality and that “memory industries” try to manipulate well-informed and highly educated societies in ways similar to those used by emerging nineteenth-century nation-states to manipulate their undereducated or illiterate societies. It is argued that designers of monuments and exhibitions should increase the attention they pay to the knowledge of the audience and the reception of exhibitions by visitors. The interpretation of texts, politically loaded images, and monuments depends more on the observer’s prior knowledge, ideology, and emotions than on the intentions of the producer of images and monuments. The final section deals with the nemesis represented by collective memories based on Manichean morality.