134 Elizabeth Deligio
Therefore, you are not just remembering a handshake or a kiss on the
cheek; you are remembering norms and cultural rules for greeting a
grandmother, a co-worker, a child, etc. Connerton (1989) places memory
into a context and develops memory as a plurality.
Collective Memory
Paul Ricoeur (2004) writes that collective memory is memory with the
“I” removed. This “shared” memory describes the history, tradition,
knowledge, and cultural practices of the place(s) a people inhabit. These
memories provide pathways for understanding and teaching a culture, the
rules of a place, the traditions of an ethnic or religious group, etc. This
memory orients people to norms (we do not eat meat), it informs identity
(we are a people who farm), and it draws from shared histories (the first
village was built in 1202). Collective or communal memory can be quite
intimate, a portrait of the people of this place. But it is also often a space
for constructing memory that may differ from official histories (Connerton,
1989).
Collective memory exists alongside political record and may contradict
it. For example, the political record could say that Black men were
enfranchised to vote with the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment
(Dubois, 1935). However, collective memory would say Black men did not
gain full suffrage at that time. The political record, as a dominant voice in
the shaping of communal memory, could diminish the memories of a
particular community, in particular if the memories of that community
challenge status quo beliefs that a larger collective may hold. The site of
collective memory informs the identities and memories of an individual.
Collective memories also pass through the three-phase model, but again
could not be understood via universal or ahistorical lenses. This leads to a
final site of memory to consider, the site of historical memory and sites of
contestation.