Abstract
Time and space have always had great meaning and influence on how people perceive events, pain, happiness, and, of course, what we choose to remember parallel to what we choose or decide to forget, voluntarily or involuntarily. The field of the study of memory and people is vast, and has seen a wide range of contributions, from Edmund Husserl’s cognitive interpretation of memory to Max Weber and Freud and their interpretation on memory. Work on visibility and memory can also be credited to Gillian Rose, in particular her work on ‘visual methodologies’ and the interpretation of historical monuments, coins, and portraits from European history. Recent European studies on memory and nationhood during the Cold War and the world wars, as well as oral history and its impact on the development of a nation’s memory, with a focus on the individual as the actor initiating memory, are examples of this research. False memory creation processes, the positioning of the self within a history or memory, and the understanding of the ‘other’ based on that memory, are other aspects of memory studies. The process of creating memory in European history can be seen through the eyes of Faith E Beasley’s Salons, History, and the Creation of 17th-Century France: Mastering Memory, one of the many contributions to the field of memory creation. The edited volume by Heta Aali, Anna-Leena Perämäki, and Cathleen Sarti is certainly different, if not unique, given its perspective. For them and the contributors to the volume, memory is analyzed through the ‘opening-up moment’ of the ‘memory box.’ The ‘memory box,’ according to the authors, is the cultural transfer of objects, ideas, and feelings across time and places/spaces. ‘Cultural transfer’ means how objects, artifacts, and people are seen or interpreted after their time by people in different cultural settings, even if they originally came from the same country from which the object, artifact, or the person being analyzed came from. The cases that the contributors of the book focus on take place between 1500 and 2000
To understand the meaning of the ‘memory box,’ the contributors tackle it on three levels or themes – topos, personalities, and artifacts as memory boxes – using a methodology based on a critical historical analysis of the chosen events and examples. The locus of their study is to position the ‘memory box’ as an object that can be transferred through time and place, and as an object that once opened, provides new layers of interpretation to what is inside it, based on who is opening it, when, and why. The interesting contribution delivered to the reader is that they base their ‘experimental approach to cultural transfer’ through the use of the concept of the ‘memory box’ as a metaphor as well as an adjective or situation that describes how things or people are seen, understood, or interpreted, and therefore how their meaning(s) are transferred and engraved in the memories of people over time.
The book effectively sketches out a portrait of the three previously mentioned layers of analysis that employ the ‘memory box’: personalities, artifacts, and topoi. There are various tools and characteristics that the reader will encounter that elaborate on how the meanings of the memory box, the ideas and memories and feelings it holds, can be transferred or can reach the spectator or audience. First is the use of publicity and propaganda, which is considered necessary to create a memory, especially when competing with other stories of the same event, in order to give victory and glory to victims or the oppressed over the oppressor. In the competition narratives of the oppressor and the oppressed, the creation of a hero stresses the use of publicity. This is demonstrated in the book by the using the process of creating martyrs and martyrdom from the massacres caused by the conflict between European Protestants and Catholics in early 16th-century England. The creation of a martyr, and the telling of their tales and stories automatically, through strong publicity, ensures an engraved memory that emphasizes the heroism of a particular person or religious sect over another. The prime motive behind this process of martyrdom is legitimacy and establishing the supremacy of one story over another especially as it travels through time and space. This sheds light, as is emphasized at the beginning, on the concept that ideas and memories develop diachronically, and therefore change through different forms and take on different meanings, depending on who is opening the ‘memory box’ (or reading the story) at given points in time.
The ‘memory box’ brings about another dimension, which is that of ‘visibility’ and the significance of imagery in engraving memories from the past, and delivering them to us in the present, or to future generations. This is also made clear through the examples of Dubois’ portrait of the St Bartholomew’s Day massacre and the birth of martyrdom as topoi. Likewise, myths and mythology are created in order to engrave memory and shape cultural memory in nation building (e.g., Rome) or preserving the legends of a nation or people. Given the political and cultural nature of the case studies and examples in the book, the element of ‘personalities as memory boxes’ tackles the issue of how royalties, through their political rhetoric, symbols, actions and speeches, can affect the way moments, like battles and struggles, will be engraved in the memories of their people and future generations. The examples used here are of Henry the Lion, and of Queen Clotilde of France. In these examples, we see how the role of life and death of a leader or royal figure has an impact on how the stories are told and therefore remembered.
Another layer of analysis used in the book is how an artifact, i.e., a material method of expression and storytelling, can be viewed as a ‘memory box,’ e.g., diaries as memory capturing tools; films, stories, or oral histories turned into transcripts or books; or the use of the coronation stone of the Scots taken from the story of the struggle towards nation building by the Scots and the shaping of the English–Scottish relationship, particularly in the 20th century. This particular layer pays special attention to the communicative ability of objects, and their ability to transmit their messages and memories, from their creation to their delivery to those who ‘open’ them and are exposed to them.
The book is written by a group of contributors who have a strong foundation for tackling cultural memory and memory generation. It is clear that the contributors have aimed the book at the academic public, particularly those engaged in the fields of anthropology, sociology, cultural history, and the oral and visual aspects of analysis in history. Although the book is easy to read, some examples should have perhaps been elaborated on to justify their use over others, e.g., ‘personalities as memory boxes’ or ‘providence.’ Although the examples seem to be justified, legitimizing why they were given priority over others would be significant. This is also the case in the book’s treatment solely of Eastern European memory creation as part of the cultural transfer of memory, although admittedly this part of Europe has been especially significant during and after the Cold War.
The authors state in the epilogue that the ‘memory box’ is a useful approach with which to study personalities and artifacts in memory creation, in particular collective and cultural memory. At the same time the authors acknowledge the need to deepen the search and the examples used to build on this approach further. A point that should be added, however, is that the examples and cases used emphasize that an artifact, topos, or personality cannot be ‘artificially isolated’ in order to be understood or interpreted. Although the authors suggest that artificial isolation is a tool to use when employing the memory box approach, in reality, there is a clear merging between the layers of analysis while creating collective memory: it is hard to claim that a moment can be strictly categorized as ‘personality,’ ‘artifact,’ or topos. It is in fact this merging that creates the marvelous picture of how collective memories are created, communicated, and transferred through time and space at the moment of ‘opening’ the ‘memory box’. On a final note, the book takes a new and interesting approach to collective memory, one that opens the way for further unorthodox research when studying historical moments as well as contemporary ones.