Family Memory

Collective memory starts in the family. This rich and exciting collection provides deep insights into the dynamics of family memory across the globe. It is an indispensable companion for all those working in the field of transnational memory studies.

Astrid Erll, Professor of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

This timely collection offers a rich history and a compelling argument for the study of family memory. It opens new and exciting paths for memory studies and beyond, and will become an instant touchstone for scholars across disciplines. The global take of this truly international volume is much-needed in a field that has often been national or euro-centric in focus.

Ashley Barnwell, Senior Research Fellow in Sociology, University of Melbourne, Australia

Family is the most important memory community’, writes the editor of this wide-ranging collection. The essays in this volume exemplify, complicate, and challenge this claim. What kind of community is a family? What kind of inheritance is memory? How is it fashioned, passed on, re-remembered? How do collective memories mesh with or contradict other social and political narratives? And how does relating memories differ from storytelling? These are some of the questions which an impressive group of international scholars address in their rigorous and sensitive analyses of the concept of family memory and its uses in a research context. This is a fascinating collection which takes us into the very heart of the different ways in which we make and re-make our selves across time. It gave me much food for thought and inspiration for future projects.

Alison Light, Senior Research Fellow in English and History, Pembroke College, Oxford, UK