Memory as a culture is even more important than memory as an individual. After all, as an individual, I will die. When I do, my memory will be gone as well. Unless I pass the things worth remembering onto my children and my children’s children, my memories will cease.
Keeping memories alive from one generation to another is a fight against the dominant culture around us. My memories are specific to time, location, people, and events, but my memories aren’t the same as yours. That’s a good thing. When I combine my memories with those of my neighbors we produce what is called cultural memory. Cultural memory is what a society chooses to remember as the building blocks of its identity. This cultural memory doesn’t disappear with the death of a single person, but lives in a community for as long as the members of the community value it. We have all experienced this maybe even without noticing it. It lives in those nuances that we feel like we are missing when we move far away from home. It’s that silent rush of preparing for winter… or not. The assumptions that community members make about each other are based on this cultural memory. This cultural memory builds community and reminds us of an essential part of being human.
According to British social Anthropologist Paul Connerton, there are multiple types of memory. Cultural memory is one, but another one is historical memory. Historical memory is the recollection of past events — just the facts ma’am. While social memory is what a society chooses to remember about those facts.
All three of these types of memory come together to form our identities within our local communities. It is through memory that we foster our faith with our children and build strong communities that stand up against tyranny. Teach your children to remember the good, true, and beautiful and watch their communities develop!