This essay examines the concept of memory through a literature study of articles in three prominent archival journals. The aim of the study is to investigate if, and in that case how, the concept of memory is made visible in relation to archives as an institution and collection in three archival journals. The three archival journals that are under examination are Archival Science, American Archivist and Archivaria, with articles published between the years of 2013 to 2020. My study follows the previous research of Trond Jacobsen, Ricardo L. Punzalan and Margaret L. Hedstrom in the 2013 article Invoking ‘‘collective memory’’: mapping the emergence of a concept in archival science. My essay examines the seven following years; 2013-2020. This essay aims to provide a broader view of memory in archival science as it focuses on the concept of memory instead of “collective memory”. Three themes are found and examined; memory and identity, remembering and forgetting, and the archivist’s role in the establishment of memory. Assmann (2006; 2011) uses four different memory formations to illustrate the complexity of the concept. Jimerson (2009) also gives the study a theoretical framework by explaining the power structure and the relationship between the archivist and the concept of memory. The results show that the concept of memory is complex and that there are multiple definitions and understandings of memory. To use a universal definition of the concept of memory is problematic because of it’s multiple understandings. This thesis agrees with the articles examined in that we need interdisciplinary views on how the concept of memory is made visible in relation to archives as an institution and collection, and that archivists need broader tools of how to understand and problematize the concept of memory.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:sh-41556 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Karlsson Larm, Kristin |
| Publisher | Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för kultur och lärande |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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