Linking Little Narratives to Big Ones: Narrative and Public Memory in History Museums

Abstract

Developing an account of the encounter between vernacular and official (Bodnar, 1992) mediational means, this paper explores some of the ways narratives about history come into dialogic contact in history museums. We argue that the history museum acts as a public forum where personal lives may be linked more or less closely to collectives through encounters among narratives produced by the museum and its visitors. Through analysis of exhibits at two museums and visitor talk in one museum, we offer a preliminary discussion of possible relationships among narratives in the negotiation of public memory.

Arte y memoria: expresiones de resistencia y transformaciones subjetivas frente a la violencia política

“…Savelsberg y King (2005) en una revisión de las memorias colectivas de Alemania y Estados Unidos, a partir del análisis de sus fiestas, monumentos y memoriales, afirman que las narrativas de memoria colectiva y de trauma colectivo, se cristalizan no solamente en estos eventos, sino también en la institucionalización de leyes e incluso en la forma como las fuerzas del orden actúan para prevenir "crímenes de odio" que causan traumas culturales. Cuando se trata de museos nacionales, estos portan tanto parte de la historia, como las narrativas de memoria que constituyen las identidades de esa nación (Rowe, Wertsch, & Kosyaeva, 2002) o la cristalización de relatos oficiales sobre conflictos padecidos (Arboleda-Ariza y Morales Herrera, 2016).…”

Temporal Frameworks and Individual Cultural Activities

“…To understand how these temporal frameworks intervene in the cultural positioning of people, the object 'culture' was considered simultaneously as the result of the official theatre and museum culture and as that of the production of culture by the audience at the time of the encounter with the cultural offer (Bergadaà and Nyeck, 1995;Gainer, 1995;Rowe et al, 2002). The research shows the respective influence of socialization and formal education (as perceived by the respondents) on the meaning given to culture.…”

Communism and the Meaning of Social Memory: Towards a Critical-Interpretive Approach

“…There is something called "public" or "national memory", which is not something we just "have" or "own", but rather something we "create" (Andrews, 2003) from the historical "big narratives" of the national group and the "little narratives" of individuals (Rowe et al, 2002): national memory and national narratives are a (contested) terrain where "official culture" and "vernacular culture" meet (Bodnar, 1992). National memories participate in the ongoing, unfinished identity project of the national collective.…”