Collective Memory and Social Movements

Zamponi, Lorenzo

doi:10.1002/9780470674871.wbespm040

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Italian social movement actors after 2001 acted as "mnemonic agents" (Zamponi 2013) and exploited the memory of the Genoa events to generate renovated collective action frames and bolster new mobilization processes. But how did this cognitive dimension develop via the production of specific cultural material?…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meeting with more public's receptivity than the GJM's anti capitalistic arguments, this exclusive focus on violence bolstered framing potential in the short term and produced "mnemonic agency" (Zamponi 2013) for future mobilization but overshadowed the movement's original goals. In fact, while the GJM's collective action frame gradually faded away from the Italian social movement context, the anti-G8 summit became iconic in the Italian history of social contention.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Interpretative Dimension of Transformative Events: Outrage Management and Collective Action Framing After the 2001 Anti-G8 Summit in Genoa

Vicari

2015

Social Movement Studies

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Abstract. By focusing on the aftermath of the 2001 anti-G8 summit in Genoa, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive insight into the interpretative dimension of transformative events leading to backfire. First, in line with the existing literature on transformative events, the study shows that after the violent events Italian authorities employed all possible strategies to inhibit public outrage (i.e., cover-ups of the situation, stigmatizations of targets to legitimate repressive action, reinterpretations of police violence as different from direct attacks, presence of authoritative assessments and intimidation of participants and witnesses).Second, a multidimensional scaling of symbolic devices from 70 social forum websites shows that after 2001 Italian social movement actors used the narrative of the Genoa events in deliberative (i.e., bridging, extension) or negotiating (i.e., punctuation, articulation) framing processes to build new collective action frames.Key words: collective action frames, repression, mobilization, transformative events, Genoa Social Forum, Global Justice Movement.According to the social movement literature, events can turn transformative when they lead to sudden increases or decreases in the levels of mobilization (see, among the others, Della Porta, 2008: 30; Hess and Martin, 2006: 249; McAdam and Sewell, 2001: 101; Sewell, 1996: 2 272). Repressive events, for instance, are potentially transformative as they can ignite or trigger protest waves. When repression does increase mobilization levels, two specific processes characterize transformative events: authorities develop strategies of outrage management and social movement actors engage in new protest in response, so-called "backfire" mobilization 1 (Francisco, 2004;Hess and Martin, 2006; Jansen and Martin, 2004;Martin, 2004 Martin, , 2005 Martin, , 2007. Public memory of transformative events is then marked exactly by "the conflict between different narratives of the past, each one struggling for a group's position inside the public sphere" (Zamponi, 2013: 2). While scholarly attention has been drawn to the interpretative dimension of authorities' strategies of outrage management (Hess and Martin, 2006; Jansen and Martin, 2004;Martin, 2004 Martin, , 2005 Martin, , 2007 Martin, , 2009), little cognitive investigation has been devoted to social movements' countering action.By applying a frame analysis approach to the aftermath of the 2001 anti-G8 summit in Genoa, this study aims exactly to fill this lacuna and flesh out the interpretative dimension of both processes associated with repressive events that lead to further mobilization. The counter-summit makes a relevant case study because it was characterized by both an extremely high degree of police violence and extensive national and international media coverage. Moreover, it was followed by increased mobilization levels, although only in the short-term, among Italian movement actors (Reiter et al., 2007). In sum, by drawing upon framing theory, this work will provid...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Interpretative Dimension of Transformative Events: Outrage Management and Collective Action Framing After the 2001 Anti-G8 Summit in Genoa

Vicari

2015

Social Movement Studies

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“…As they embed memories of other nations into new surroundings, importing actors need to actively construct linkages between the memory, the targeted collective, and the present issue such that they can provide “meaning to an unfolding strip of events, weaving a connection among them” (Gamson and Modigliani, 1987: 143). This practice of linking present issues to other events claimed to be related has received considerable attention under the heading of “framing.” In framing research, memories appear as key semantic resources in media discourse and popular wisdom (Edy, 1999; Zamponi, 2013) that can be selectively mobilized, updated, and tied to an issue to be framed (Schwartz, 1996). However, whereas the use of domestic memories for framing is typically narrowly constrained by pre-existing constructions that evolve “in a path-dependent manner” (Motta and Baden 2013: 52; Olick, 1999), imported ideas can be arranged more freely (Baden, 2018).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

The memories of others: How leaders import collective memories in political speech

Adams

Baden

2020

International Journal of Comparative Sociology

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Owing to the increasing presence of globalized communication and the accelerated exchange of cultural products, there is a consensus that collective memories transcend their original contexts. We investigate how imported memories are recruited in political speech to render meaning relevant to domestic publics. Based on a qualitative comparative long-term analysis of speeches held by heads of state in the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel, and Germany (1945–2018), we identify three ways in which memories are imported into new settings. Findings show that memories are not imported as meaningful wholes, but arranged selectively and recontextualized, confining their role to supporting predetermined domestic agendas. While the progressing transnationalization may have expanded the repertoire of memories available for public sense-making, the use of memories remains firmly rooted within the national context.

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“…Bhopal as a case for analysis within this framework is particularly productive as it addresses the paucity of non-western, non Euro-centric examinations of memory and brings into view the work of a neglected set of memory actors; social movement organisations have been largely excluded from the analysis of memory contestations as the focus has remained firmly on state actors, national communities or on traditionally recognised sub-national groupings defined by categories such as ethnicity, religion and race (see Gongaware 2009;Zamponi 2013;Kubal & Beccera 2014). This study contributes to calls for recognising and examining social movements as 'mnemonic agents in the public arena' and more specifically for an investigation into the 'limits' to this memory-work (Zamponi 2013: 3).…”

Section: Scaling In Memory-work: Grounding the Dynamics Of Transnatiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Social movements and the scaling of memory and justice in Bhopal

Bisht

2018

Contemporary South Asia

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This paper examines the politics of scale in the commemorative work undertaken by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), a coalition of social movement organisations seeking justice for the victims of the Bhopal Gas Disaster of 1984. The argument traces how the ICJB attempted to contest the localisation of the disaster by the Indian state and the transnational corporations involved. I outline how the disaster, which had been scaled down from an extraordinary global event to a private non-issue, was re-scaled successfully across multiple scales of meaning and regulation through ICJB's mobilisation of the frame of 'second/ongoing poisoning'. This contestation over the scaling of the disaster crucially involved multiple processes of memory-work. Drawing on archival research and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper reveals how the remembrance of the disaster functioned as a key site of the discursive and performative re-framings required to reinstate multi-scalar accountability for the disaster. Overall, the paper establishes the utility of the politics of scale approach in mapping the dynamics of the transnational mobilisations of memory by social movement organisations in pursuit of justice.

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Collective Memory and Social Movements

Cited by 18 publications

References 14 publications

The Interpretative Dimension of Transformative Events: Outrage Management and Collective Action Framing After the 2001 Anti-G8 Summit in Genoa

The Interpretative Dimension of Transformative Events: Outrage Management and Collective Action Framing After the 2001 Anti-G8 Summit in Genoa

The memories of others: How leaders import collective memories in political speech

Social movements and the scaling of memory and justice in Bhopal

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