A NOTE FROM THE EDITORS
From the outgoing editor
In my twelve years as senior editor of History & Memory, which pioneered
the historical study of memory back in 1989, the journal has sought to publish
some of the best work in a rapidly expanding field that has become almost
impossible to chart. If in the 1980s “memory” had as yet to be established as a
topic, by now almost everything threatens to turn into “memory”—not only
representations of the past, but whole branches of culture.
In this changed
context, History & Memory has sought to insist on some issues often
ignored by the ever-increasing “memory industry”: questions about audiences and
forms of appropriation, about the role of lay and popular traditions in contrast
to specialists of commemoration, about lived memory, traumas and experience. It
asked contributors to rethink terms such as “collective memory,” to be careful
about assumptions concerning the effectiveness of monuments and lieux de
mémoire, to be attentive to what anthropologists and
oral historians can tell us about the presence of the past. Since its founding
by Saul Friedländer, History & Memory—understandably enough—tended
to focus on the traumatic experiences of the twentieth century, their traces
and representations, especially that of the Holocaust. We have sought to retain
this focus while expanding the framework and bringing other sites, other
voices, both non-European and premodern, into the discussion.
We cannot claim to have
achieved all we set out to do, far from it. Scholarly journals tend to reflect
the currents in a particular field of study—even when the field, as in the case
of the study of representations and uses of the past—is enormous and almost
boundless. A lot remains to be done. It is therefore with a sense of
satisfaction and optimism that I welcome my friend and colleague, Prof. José
Brunner, as my successor in the role of senior editor of History &
Memory. I can think of no better choice and am looking forward to seeing
what shape History & Memory will assume in his hands.
Gadi Algazi
From the incoming editor
It is with some trepidation but also with much
excitement that I take upon myself the task of senior editor of History & Memory. I am in awe of the
pioneering work Saul Friedländer achieved with this journal concerning the
memory of the Holocaust, as well as of the tremendous expansion of focus
accomplished by Gadi Algazi, which turned the journal into a leading scholarly
publication in this field, concerned with all forms and manifestations of
collective memory and historical consciousness, independent of theoretical
outlook, geography and period.
In order to maintain
and buttress History & Memory’s
function as a pivotal platform of research in this vast and complex area of
scholarship, it is crucial to continue the open approach established by Gadi,
while maintaining the highest possible academic standards and critically
reconsidering the theoretical assumptions guiding the field.
Due to the excellence
and broad spectrum of research published in History & Memory I see
no need for any urgent or drastic changes in editorial policy. Along with its
interest in the legacies of Nazism, fascism and the Holocaust, the role of
memory in modern and premodern cultures, and the relationship between
historical research and images of the past in different societies and cultures,
there are, however, some additional questions that I would like to see
addressed in the journal.
So far, research published
in this journal has mostly focused on collective memory that has been
negotiated and articulated in print, commemoration ceremonies and memorial
sites, exploring their workings almost exclusively with reference to national
political events and processes. In this global and transnational world the new
media play a crucial role as providers of popular history and memory beyond
state borders, not only for the younger generation but, at least in the West,
for the general public of all ages. Over the last few decades these media have also
become the main distributors of academic historical knowledge. Thus History
& Memory will welcome research on the role of the digital media in the
formation of historical consciousness, exploring the impact of the novel,
virtual techniques (such as digitization, video-clips, interactive infographics
and Wikipedia) by which they appropriate, facilitate, transform, store,
regulate and spread historical knowledge and memory.
The journal will also
welcome research into the role history and memory play in the constitution of
corporate identities today. In the last couple of decades corporations and
other transnational business entities have been devoting resources to
exploring, documenting, recreating and disseminating their institutional
histories and memories—in some instances, because their past has become a
liability for them. Of particular interest in this respect may be the work of
historians who have been employed to document and present such institutionally framed,
non-academic histories for the public, for their work does much to shape the
memory of the role played by large-scale private and public economic actors in
social and political processes, both on a national and a transnational level.
These are just two
examples of the way in which History & Memory would like to expand
its horizon in order to bring major transnational actors into its field of
vision, without, of course, drawing attention away from the complex,
multi-layered processes involved in the formation of historical memory and
historical consciousness within states and nations, which will continue to
constitute the core of its publications.
José Brunner
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