In the third decade of this century, the sociologist Maurice Halbwachs and the art historian Aby Warburg independently developed1 two theories of a "collective" or "social memory." Their otherwise fundamentally different approaches meet in a decisive dismissal of numerous tumof-the-century attempts to conceive collective memory in biological terms as an inheritable or "racial mern~ry,"~ a tendency which would still obtain, for instance, in C. G. Jung's theory of archetypes.3 Instead, both Warburg and Halbwachs shift the discourse concerning collective knowledge out of a biological framework into a cultural one. The specific character that a person derives from belonging to a distinct society and culture is not seen to maintain itself for generations as a result of phylogenetic evolution, but rather as a result of socialization and customs. The "survival of the type" in the sense of a cultural * This text was originally published in Kultur und Gedachtnis, eds. Jan Assmann and Tonio Holscher (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1988) 9-19.
Now available to an English-speaking audience, this book presents a groundbreaking theoretical analysis of memory, identity and culture. It investigates how cultures remember, arguing that human memory exists and is communicated in two ways, namely inter-human interaction and in external systems of notation, such as writing, which can span generations. Dr Assmann defines two theoretical concepts of cultural memory, differentiating between the long-term memory of societies, which can span up to 3,000 years, and communicative memory, which is typically restricted to 80 to 100 years. He applies this theoretical framework to case studies of four specific cultures, illustrating the function contexts and specific achievements, including the state, international law, religion and science. Ultimately, his research demonstrates that memory is not simply a means of retaining information, but rather a force that can shape cultural identity and allow cultures to respond creatively to both daily challenges and catastrophic changes.
Zusammenfassung: Kultur ist Gedächtnis: diese These wird eingangs anhand der mnemotechnischen und identitätsstabilisierenden Funktion von Formgebung allgemein erläutert und dann am Beispiel geformter Sprache näher ausgeführt. Ausgehend vom Textbegriff K. Ehlichs, der "Text" als "wiederaufgenommene Mitteilung" bestimmt im Rahmen einer "zerdehnten Situation", wird Kultur als der Oberbegriff aller zerdehnten Situationen verstanden, in der "kulturelle Texte" immer wieder aufgenommen werden und so eine sich fallweise über Jahrtausende erstreckende "zerdehnte Situation" diachroner Kommunikation fundieren. So bilden sich spezifische Zeithorizonte heraus, die von Gesellschaften als die ihnen eigene Vergangenheit beansprucht und bewohnt bzw. "erinnert" werden. Dieses kulturelle Gedächtnis wird mit wachsendem Schriftgebrauch komplex, weil sich um den Zentralbestand kultureller Texte herum immer weiter ausgreifende Peripherien nicht mehr gebrauchter, aber vor dem Verschwinden bewahrter Texte ablagem, wodurch eine Dynamik des Vergessens und Erinnems in Gang kommt. Diese Dynamik steigert sich, wo eine Gesellschaft sich von ihrer Vergangenheit abkehrt und die mit ihr verbundenen kuturellen Texte nicht einfach "vergißt", sondern "verdrängt", wie es in paradigmatischer Weise bei der Entstehung des christlichen Abendlandes in Abkehr vom antiken Heidentum geschah.Summary: Culture is memory: this thesis highlights the mnemotechnical aspects and functions of cultural "morphology" in general and of formed speech in particular. On the basis of K. Ehlich's notion of text as "reproduced communication" in the frame of an "extended Situation", culture is interpreted as the totality of extended situations, in which "cultural texts" are continually reproduced and an "extended Situation" is institutionalized that may extend over several millennia. ln this way, specific temporal horizons are formed which given societies Claim and remember as "their" past. This form of cultural memory grows complex in the process of growing literacy. Around a core of highly normative and formative cultural texts, an ever growing periphery of texts is developing which feil out of use but are still preserved in written form. This dynamic of forgetting and remembering becomes dramatic in cases when a society rejects its past altogether and not only "forgets" but suppresses its cultural texts as was the case when emerging Christianity rejected pagan antiquity.
fan AssmannI would like to start this text with a definition of concepts. Without any claim to a general theory and simply for the restricted purposes of this chapter, I propose to distinguish betw een globalization and universal ism. Unde r the te rm globalization, I unde rstand a proce ss of ge ne ral disse mination (of me rchandise , te chnologie s, ne ws, political influence, religious ideas) across political and cultural boundaries and of the e nsu ing integration of various, pre viously isolate d zone s into one syste m of inte rconne ctions and inte rde pe nde ncie s, whe re all nations, e mpire s, tribe s and state s cohe re in some way or othe r through political, e co nomic or cultural re lations.Unde r universalism, on the other hand, I understand the rise of theo rie s, ideas or beliefs with a claim to universal validity. This de ve lopme nt is generally associate d with Jaspe rs' conce pt of Achse nze it (axial age ).1 Jaspe rs and his many pre de ce ssors and succe ssors he ld that the se uni ve rsalist theories arose simultaneously around 500 BCE in various parts of the world, from China in the Far East to Southern Italy in the We st. I propose to retain the concept of 'axiality', while stripping it of its tem poral associations, especially of its links with one particular time period. Spread and contagion lie in the ve ry nature of unive rsalist ide as, and thus it is a small wonder that the spre ad of some ide as may provoke a ge ne ral and e ve n e pochmaking turn in large r parts of the world. This, howe ve r, happe ne d at various mome nts in human history, in different regions and also in diffe re nt sphe re s of inte lle ctual or spiritual life . Unive rsalism, therefore, suggests an intellectual and spiritual phenomenon, globalization; on the othe r hand, a political, e conomic and civilizational proce ss (implying mate rial rathe r than spiritual culture ). 2 The two typical unive rsalisms of We ste rn antiquity are monotheism, both in its inclusive (All Gods are One) and exclusive, Biblical form (No other gods!)
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