Administrations of Memory: Transcending the Nation and Bringing back the State in Memory Studies

Abstract

This introduction to the special issue starts from the point that studying the politics of memory should also involve studying the governance and policies of memory: its administrations. The increasing importance of transnational and local scales in memory studies seems to have made the nation a less relevant starting point from which to conceptualize memory. Yet, states progressively attempt to administer memory. This suggests that we should focus at once on transcending methodological nationalism and bringing back the state in the study of the politics of memory. This involves thinking about administrations of memory both in terms of the processes of dispensing or aiding memory and as the state bodies that are authorized and expected to manage memory. As such, this introductory chapter is structured around two issues: a) the interactions between transnational, national and local scales in policy trajectories, practices and discourses on

State Institutions as Building Blocks of China's Infrastructures of Memory – The Case of Intangible Heritage

“…The role of institutions, discourses, and practices in memory politics has been a central concern in Memory Studies. As McQuaid and Gensburger (2019), however, argue, Memory Studies' work has mainly focused on discourses and display of memories, while seldom engaging with the "administration of memory," including the public policy process and public administration behind memory politics. They contend that administrations of memory lie at the heart of memory politics as they transmit, mobilise, and legitimise certain memories over others.…”

“…According to Star (1999), these are often regarded as "boring" and "mundane" (p. 379), as they are related to processes such as standardisation, classification, and categorisation. Invisible processes exist because every state institution employs certain practices to carry and transmit collective memory (McQuaid and Gensburger, 2019). Likewise, these invisible components of infrastructures of memory exist outside the state.…”

“…His focus is thus on finding remains of Franco's “infrastructures of memories” in today's Spain, rather than explaining how infrastructures of memory emerge. Moreover, his work – similar to McQuaid and Gensburger's (2019) – is based on the assumption that memory politics take place in a democratic context (contemporary democratic Spain) (Rubin, 2018: 214), not authoritarian nation-states.…”

Explosive aftermaths: Reassembling transnational memory- and policyscapes of victims and terrorism in the United Kingdom

“…Building again from Appadurai’s (1990) work on *scapes, Phillips and Reyes (2011) have developed the concept Global Memoryscapes as a complex landscape upon which memories and memory practices move, come into contact, are contested by, and contest other forms of remembrance and older ways of conceptualizing the past (Phillips and Reyes, 2011: 13–14). The idea of the global memoryscape is one of a series of interventions in memory studies that aim to transcend ideas of the nation as the primary framework, motor and container of collective memories to conceptualize processes of ‘transnational memory’ (Assmann, 2014; David, 2020; De Cesari and Rigney, 2014; McQuaid and Gensburger, 2019; Wüstenberg, 2019). In this case, there are two key points to keep in mind: first, in ethno-national conflicts, the frameworks for collective memory are already transnational, both beyond and below the level of the nation-state.…”

Challenging the meaning of the past from below: A typology for comparative research on memory activists

“…The term memory activism has been conceptually stretched to encompass a wide range of actors and instances of contention, from administrators and government officials, to historians, artists, and a variety of social movements (Dybris McQuaid and Gensburger, 2019;Hajek, 2013;Harris, 2006;Pettai, 2020;Rigney, 2018;Bukowiecki et al 2020;Whitlinger, 2019;Zamponi, 2018). A clear definition is therefore essential.…”