10 Enlisting Lived Memory: From Traumatic Silence to Authentic Witnessing
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Carol A. Kidron
Abstract
This chapter presents a self-reflexive and self-critical account of the author’s scholarship on second and third generation Holocaust descendant memory contextualized within the Israeli commemorative landscape. Focusing on the evolution of the author’s epistemological and ideological interpretive lens, the chapter explores the way the author’s three scholarly trajectories were shaped by the following: critical constructivism and hegemony theory; critical perspectives on trauma theory and pathologization; and the author’s personal positioning as Holocaust descendant protective of survivor family silence and authenticity. Vignettes from ethnographic participant observation at a support group for second generation Holocaust descendants and ethnographic interviews with second and third generation descendants are presented, illustrating scholarship from each trajectory, followed by a self-critical analysis of the way each interpretive lens constituted the resultant scholarship. Implications are raised pertaining to the politics of memory and memory scholarship and the way the politics of memory is forever entangled with formative ideological and emotive moral missions. Moving beyond the micro case study of Israeli politics of memory to broader epistemological and ethical questions, the chapter problematizes the way subjective moralistic scholarly and personal positions shape our analytical lens.
Abstract
This chapter presents a self-reflexive and self-critical account of the author’s scholarship on second and third generation Holocaust descendant memory contextualized within the Israeli commemorative landscape. Focusing on the evolution of the author’s epistemological and ideological interpretive lens, the chapter explores the way the author’s three scholarly trajectories were shaped by the following: critical constructivism and hegemony theory; critical perspectives on trauma theory and pathologization; and the author’s personal positioning as Holocaust descendant protective of survivor family silence and authenticity. Vignettes from ethnographic participant observation at a support group for second generation Holocaust descendants and ethnographic interviews with second and third generation descendants are presented, illustrating scholarship from each trajectory, followed by a self-critical analysis of the way each interpretive lens constituted the resultant scholarship. Implications are raised pertaining to the politics of memory and memory scholarship and the way the politics of memory is forever entangled with formative ideological and emotive moral missions. Moving beyond the micro case study of Israeli politics of memory to broader epistemological and ethical questions, the chapter problematizes the way subjective moralistic scholarly and personal positions shape our analytical lens.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface: Interpretive Lenses in Sociology – On the Multidimensional Foundations of Meaning in Social Life vii
- Notes on Contributors xii
- Acknowledgments xvii
- Introduction: Interpreting Contentious Memories and Conflicts over the Past 1
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Interpreting Memories in the Social Dynamics of Contention
- On the Social Distribution of Soldiers’ Memories: Normalization, Trauma, and Morality 29
- Feminist Approaches to Studying Memory and Mass Atrocity 49
- Mobilizing Memories: Remembrance as a Social Movement Tool in the Vieques Anti-Military Movement (1999–2004) 69
- The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders 89
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Racism, Exclusion, and Mnemonic Conflict
- Building a Case for Citizenship: Countermemory Work among Deported Veterans 113
- Commemorations as Transformative Events: Collective Memory, Temporality, and Social Change 134
- Contentious Pasts, Contentious Futures: Race, Memory, and Politics in Montgomery’s Legacy Museum 154
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Genocide, Memory, and the Historicizing of Trauma
- Remembrance and Historicization: Transformation of Individual and Collective Memory Processes in the Federal Republic of Germany 177
- Enlisting Lived Memory: From Traumatic Silence to Authentic Witnessing 197
- Changing Memories of the Shoah in Post-Communist Countries: New Memories and Conflicts 217
- How Difficult Pasts Complicate the Present: Comparative Analysis of the Genocides in Western Armenia and Rwanda 236
- Conclusion: Memory and the Social Dynamics of Conflict and Contention: Interpretive Lenses for New Cases and Controversies 258
- Index 266
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Editors’ Preface: Interpretive Lenses in Sociology – On the Multidimensional Foundations of Meaning in Social Life vii
- Notes on Contributors xii
- Acknowledgments xvii
- Introduction: Interpreting Contentious Memories and Conflicts over the Past 1
-
Interpreting Memories in the Social Dynamics of Contention
- On the Social Distribution of Soldiers’ Memories: Normalization, Trauma, and Morality 29
- Feminist Approaches to Studying Memory and Mass Atrocity 49
- Mobilizing Memories: Remembrance as a Social Movement Tool in the Vieques Anti-Military Movement (1999–2004) 69
- The Ballot of Donald and Hillary: Hateful Memories of Celebrity Leaders 89
-
Racism, Exclusion, and Mnemonic Conflict
- Building a Case for Citizenship: Countermemory Work among Deported Veterans 113
- Commemorations as Transformative Events: Collective Memory, Temporality, and Social Change 134
- Contentious Pasts, Contentious Futures: Race, Memory, and Politics in Montgomery’s Legacy Museum 154
-
Genocide, Memory, and the Historicizing of Trauma
- Remembrance and Historicization: Transformation of Individual and Collective Memory Processes in the Federal Republic of Germany 177
- Enlisting Lived Memory: From Traumatic Silence to Authentic Witnessing 197
- Changing Memories of the Shoah in Post-Communist Countries: New Memories and Conflicts 217
- How Difficult Pasts Complicate the Present: Comparative Analysis of the Genocides in Western Armenia and Rwanda 236
- Conclusion: Memory and the Social Dynamics of Conflict and Contention: Interpretive Lenses for New Cases and Controversies 258
- Index 266
