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

Adams, Tracy; Baden, Christian

doi:10.1177/0020715220983391

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(56 reference statements)

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“…When attempting to grapple with current issues, all the more so during periods of risk and uncertainty, memory is used as a valuable tool, with past events called upon for guidance (Khong, 1992; Schuman and Rieger, 1992) and consolation (Simko, 2015). Typically, this happens after an event has been memorialized and consolidated into memory (Adams and Baden, 2020). Practices of memorialization, then, are inescapably connected to the need for the past to be made past (Adams and Edy, 2021).…”

Section: Cultural Memory During Uncertain Timesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remembering COVID-19: memory, crisis, and social media

Adams

Kopelman

2021

Media, Culture & Society

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Worldwide, pubic memory initiatives are attempting to memorialize the current COVID-19 crisis whilst it is still ongoing. The Picturing Lockdown collection is one such initiative, led by Historic England (HE), the UK’s statutory adviser on historic environment. Calling out to the public to submit photographed experiences of lockdown to both its website and via social media, HE recruited the public to partake in a national memory-making endeavor. To examine memorialization practices of the present, this research asks: in an era of social media, how is an archive of an ongoing crisis represented? Using a qualitative method for visual and textual analysis, this research compares the official HE Picturing Lockdown archive collection and #PicturingLockdown on Instagram. Analysis reveals tensions in three spheres: the institutional, the temporal, and the spatial. Demonstrating the dynamism and “presentism” introduced by social media, this research illustrates how traditional practices of commemoration are shifting.

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Section: Cultural Memory During Uncertain Timesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remembering COVID-19: memory, crisis, and social media

Adams

Kopelman

2021

Media, Culture & Society

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“…To detect references to past events, both domestic and foreign, a dictionary incorporating major historical events and figures anywhere in the world was collated (see Adams and Baden 2021). Building on the existing literature, including research on collective memory, this dictionary contained events from ancient to recent history (e.g.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Importation for comparison as apparatus: Israeli prime ministers and their political strategies of memorialization

Adams

2022

Current Sociology

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Politically grappling with history is a constructive act, one that relies on context, structure, and agency, and is also directed at the forging of cultural coherence. In light of the growing transnationalization of commemoration practices, political actors not only rely on national past but also appeal to historical foreign events in political domestic speech. This research focuses on Israel as a case study for theoretical expansion of the political encounter with history and the experience of alterity. Qualitative analysis of Israeli political rhetoric since the 2000s demonstrates how Israeli prime ministers primarily rely on domestic collective memories; when used, events of others are intended to create a sense of shared experience through comparison. ‘Importation for comparison’ is thus the apparatus reflecting how Israeli prime ministers comply with current needs put forth by internal and external challenges in a globalized world. Contributing to the ongoing discussion regarding the nature of identity, this research underlines how referencing to events from abroad is one of the prominent ways in which national self is evaluated, discussed, and negotiated, thus providing a better understanding of how Israeli society imagines itself in relation to others.

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“…Much research has focused on the relationship between memory and politics (Edy and Adams, 2023;Hodgkin and Radstone, 2003). Indeed, "political memory," previously referred to as a special form of collective memory (Bodnar, 1992), was commonly assumed to be the dominant version of national collective memory, or memory "from above" (Sierp, 2014: 30).…”

Section: Bonding Narratives and Collective Memoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

How do states reminisce? Building relations through bonding narratives

Adams¹,

Heimann²,

Kampf³

2023

Cooperation and Conflict

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Reminiscing during foreign state visits serves as a discursive means for building interstate relationships. When political leaders strategically narrate their states’ historical legacies, they construct a collective memory that serves as a resource for creating and sustaining amicable relations between states. Studying evocations of past events in 455 speeches delivered during foreign state visits between 2010 and 2020, we demonstrate the prevalence and significance of the practice of reminiscing in interstate politics. We suggest bonding narratives as a device through which a connection is generated between two collectives to create and sustain positive relations. Despite the unique nature of bonding narratives, the constructed collective memory mostly relies on shared memories of wars, once again underlining the link between nations and violence.

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

Cited by 7 publications

References 60 publications

Remembering COVID-19: memory, crisis, and social media

Remembering COVID-19: memory, crisis, and social media

Importation for comparison as apparatus: Israeli prime ministers and their political strategies of memorialization

How do states reminisce? Building relations through bonding narratives

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