In the chapter titled "Historical Memory and Collective
Memory" in his book The Collective Memory Maurice Halbwachs discusses
the function of collective memory in early childhood. According to Halbwachs,
the instant children begin to take interest in the meaning of things around
them is the instant they start to take part in the collective memory. Therefore,
for Halbwachs, inter-generational relations play a key role in the formation
and shaping of memory. Childhood memories are always revisited from the present
and Halbwachs attributes a critical function to one's social surroundings in
the manner in which we approach these memories.
Halbwachs suggests collective memory and historical memory as opposed to
one another on to key issues:
1.
Collective memory,
according to Halbwachs, exists outside time and space and is continues
throughout the generations. Collective memory is neither elaborate nor detailed
and is in a state of constant change according to society's needs. Historical memory,
on the other hand, schematizes memory, classifies it and views it in great
detail.
2.
Collective memory, says Halbwachs,
is not one or something unified. Collective memory is, in fact, an assortment of
collective memories. It is adapted to various groups and interpretations, and
is therefore flexible and fluid, inaccurate and sometimes even
self-contradictory. Collective memory sustains society as such and is therefore
inward-turned and culturally subjective. Historical memory, on the other hand,
attempts at presenting a single objective truth and has an outer perspective.
Halbwachs viewed collective
memory as a social fact. He perceived collective memory as something which
exists outside the individual consciousness and there for an inherent part of
social life. The function Halbwachs attributes collective memory is one of
social consolidation much like the totemic principle suggested by Emile Durkheim. However,
Durkheim and Halbwachs are divided on two issues. While Durkheim suggests the
past as leading to the present, Halbwachs suggests the present as returning to
the past. Secondly, Durkhiem's take on things tends to imagine a unified
society, while Halbwachs accounts for a multiplicity of collective memories.
suggested reading on Halbwachs and collective memory:
