What is social memory and how can it be legitimized? Paul Connerton’s study on How Societies Remember revolves around this question and answers it through psychological and political means. Many authors and historians give their intelligent opinions on how social memory is collected and portrayed, however the focus here is to present Connerton’s outlook towards memory recollection and state his appropriate reasoning for it. Connerton’s attitude towards collective memory is that people in a social group hold different memories of the same experience. Each memory acts as a contributing factor to the experience and, when shared in a social group, enhances and expands the experience to a point that the whole memory is set in text. Connerton introduces…show more content… This aspect of collective memory proves that each memory acts as a contributing factor to the experience and, when shared in a social group, enhances and expands the experience. Connerton’s book was published around when San Francisco won the Super Bowl. Simply put, there were thousands of people in that stadium, most of which were fanatics who had come to the game to see their team win. Memory recollection plays a major role at this event in that the more people in a social group would discuss the game, the bigger and clearer the memory would become. For example, one person in the group would say, “Did you see how smoothly number ten made his way to the touchdown?” and another would add, “I know it was so awesome how he faked that pass and just went for it.” Historical context is the setting for a particular idea that one can understand in a more clear and relatable way. This social setting betters one’s understanding of what Connerton focuses on in his writings, that memory is recollected from a social group. An author by the name of Barbara Misztal mentions Connerton’s work on social memory in her book, Theories of Social Remembering. Misztal agrees with Connerton that social memory is recollected through commemorative ceremonies and bodily practices. “Connerton’s conceptualization of political commemorative rituals explains how social memory is transferred through commemorative ceremonies and bodily practice.” (Misztal 70) The fact that Misztal agrees with Connerton signifies that even important writers approve Connerton’s ideas on social
wakeful experiences.
Generally, dreams are quickly forgotten and attempted recalls can be difficult. We may remember some dreams or fragments of some dreams but it is rare that our memory can provide smooth