Transnational Memories

Abstract

The 'transnational turn', which is challenging bounded views on national belonging, also opens up promising perspectives for memory studies. It fosters a rethinking and reconfiguring of national memories in the context of transnational connectedness. My sketch of seven types of transnational memories points to different empirical contexts in which states, politicians, jurists, activists, artists and scholars go beyond national borders and interests to conceptualise new forms of belonging, solidarity and cultural identification in a world characterised by streams of migration and the lingering impact of traumatic and entangled pasts.

Politics of memories: Identity construction in museums

“…Here, the discourse that Hong Kong is a superior Western city in Asia in contrast to (being) an underdeveloped Chinese city, contributes to perceptions of its position. The identity contestation in the SARs is shaped by negotiations among transnational Chinese, Western and local memories, and challenges bounded views on national belonging, as it highlights the movement of memories across time and space (Assmann, 2014). As a condition of memory has become mobility rather than location (Sundholm, 2011), the study suggests that it is the dissonance of postcolonial discourses, often constructed in transnational contexts, that exposes the key themes underlying national identification (Assmann, 2010;White, 1995).…”

“…The taxonomy of memory-making in the SARs and the degree of self-determination make Macao different in identity (re)construction from that of Hong Kong (Said, 2003). Nonetheless, the transnational feature of collective memories highlights the relational connectedness of national identity construction between the two places (Assmann, 2014). While the borders between the SARs and the mainland are strictly controlled, the mobilities of residents in the SARs make them feel that Hong Kong and Macao are different from the mainland.…”

Spatializing Memory and Justice in Transformation Processes

“…The current thinking, in contrast, leaves behind the physical constraints of spatial limitations, i.e. localized communities or sites, and suggests that memory has gone global, that it has moved beyond national borders to become transnational (Assmann 2014;Erll 2011). Proponents of this contend that while, until recently, memory work and the construction of memorials mostly developed within the confines of nation-states, global conditions-or the conditions of globalizationhave had a strong influence on remembrance (Assmann and Conrad 2010;Levy and Sznaider 2002).…”

Lo transnacional en el cine hispánico: deslindes de un concepto

“…El objetivo de los estudios transnacionales consiste en examinar cómo se articulan nuevas identidades o formas de pertenencia colectivas en un mundo caracterizado por flujos migratorios y desplazamientos colectivos (Assman 2014)6. Un concepto clave en este contexto es el de la red o 'network' , que co noce un auge notable bajo la forma digital (piénsese en los llamados 'cybercommunities'), pero que también funciona para concebir las nuevas asociaciones, menos reguladas, entre artistas y creadores de diferentes zonas de América Latina (Yúdice 2004).…”