Introduction

Abstract

In the twenty years since Pierre Nora began publishing his landmark work on Les Lieux de mémoire (Nora, 1984-92), the study of memory, especially in its collective forms, has become a veritable industry. If historians such as Nora were to the fore in giving momentum to the field of study, scholars in many other disciplines have also been actively involved. It has become increasingly clear that the construction of memory is imbricated in a complex network of social, psychological, political and cultural processes which require analytical tools spanning a wide range of scholarly disciplines. We cannot understand how collective memories gain currency or, a contrario, slip into oblivion, without understanding the dynamics of power within the societies in which they circulate. Equally important is an understanding of the cultural forms in which memories are inscribed. A medieval manuscript holds and transmits memories in ways which are radically different from a printed page or a twenty-first-century website. Cultural artefacts are in turn open to a range of inflections depending on the relative strength of different social groups and the memories that they hold dear.

Local Knowledge and Memory in Biodiversity Conservation

“…But as memory's stock rose, its nature and function became even more enigmatic. As Boutin et al (2005) observed,…”

“…Restorative memory work should facilitate not only transmission from one generation to another but also jump across memory gaps where transmission has failed or was thwarted. Boutin et al (2005) referred to these gaps as "cognitive and ethical void(s) arising from irreparable loss" and pointed to the need to "mobilize an imaginary relation to the past for fundamentally different conceptions of the present" (p. 8). Repair and circulation of cultural memory to underwrite conservation of biological and cultural diversity can start with local historians and bards who are "relentless recorders" of an alternative past (Connerton 1989) or with ordinary men and women who hold on to their cherished seeds and commensal rituals and pass these along to their children.…”