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Collective Memory and Cultural Identity

Author(s): Jan Assmann and John CzaplickaSource: New German Critique, No. 65, Cultural History/Cultural Studies (Spring - Summer,1995), pp. 125-133Published by: New German CritiqueStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/488538 .

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Collective emorynd Culturaldentity*JanAssmann

Problem ndProgramIn the hird ecadeof this entury,he ociologist auriceHalbwachsand thearthistorianbyWarburgndependentlyeveloped' wotheo-ries of a "collective" r "socialmemory."heir therwiseundamen-tally ifferentpproaches eetna decisive ismissal fnumerousurn-of-the-centuryttemptso conceivecollectivememoryn biologicalterms s an inheritabler "racialmemory,"2tendency hichwouldstillobtain, or nstance,nC. G. Jung'sheoryfarchetypes.3nstead,bothWarburgndHalbwachshifthediscourseoncerningollectiveknowledgeut fabiological rameworknto culturalne.The specific haracterhat person erives romelongingo a dis-tinctocietyndcultures not eento maintaintself or enerationssa result fphylogeneticvolution,utrathers a result fsocializationand customs.The "survival f thetype" n the sense of a cultural

* ThistextwasoriginallyublishednKultur ndGediichtnis,ds. JanAssmannandTonioH61scherFrankfurt/Main:uhrkamp,988)9-19.1. Warburgoweveruotes urkheimnhisKreuzlingerecturef 1923 n whichthe oncept f"socialmemory"ppearsnhiswork or hefirstime. f.RolandKany,MnemosynelsProgramm:eschichte,rinnerungnd ieAndachtumUnbedeutendenimWerk onUsener,WarburgndBenjaminTiibingen: iemeyer,987).H. Ritter asinformed ethat ccordingounpublishedotes, ritz axlhad referred arburgothework fMauriceHalbwachs.2. ErnestH. Gombrich,by Warburg:n ntellectualiographyLondon:TheWarburgnstitute,970)323ff.3. Warburg's ostmportantource orhis owntheoryfmemory as RichardSemon. ee Richardemon, ie Mneme ls erhaltendesrinzipm Wechsel esorganis-chenGeschehensLeipzig: ngelmann,920).125

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126 Collective emoryndCulturaldentitypseudo-species4s a functionf the culturalmemory. ccordingoNietzsche,while n the world f animals enetic rograms uaranteethe survival f thespecies,humansmustfind meansbywhich omaintain heir atureonsistentlyhroughenerations.he solution othisproblems offeredycultural emory,collectiveoncept or llknowledgehat irects ehaviorndexperiencenthe nteractiverame-work f a societynd onethat btainshroughenerationsnrepeatedsocietal racticend nitiation.We5define he onceptf cultural emoryhroughdouble elimita-tion hat istinguishest:1. from hatwe call"communicative"r"everyday emory,"hichinthenarrowerense four sage acks cultural"haracteristics;2. fromcience,whichdoesnothavethecharacteristicsfmemoryas it relates o a collectiveelf-image.or the akeofbrevity,e willleaveasidethis econddelimitationhichHalbwachs eveloped s thedistinctionetweenmemoryndhistorynd imit urselves o thefirst:thedistinctionetweenommunicativend ultural emory.CommunicativeemoryFor us the oncept f"communicativeemory"ncludes hose ariet-iesof collectivememoryhatrebased xclusivelyneverydayommu-nications. hesevarieties, hichM. Halbwachs atheredndanalyzedunder he oncept f collectivememory,onstitutehefield foralhis-tory.6verydayommunicationscharacterizedya high egree fnon-specialization,eciprocityfroles, hematicnstability,nddisorganiza-tion.7 ypically,ttakesplacebetweenartnersho canchange oles.Whoever elates joke, a memory, bit of gossip, r an experience

4. ErikErikson,OntogenyfRitualization,"UB. INFO London 1965):21;IrenausEibl-Eibesfeldt,riegundFrieden us der Sicht der Verhaltensforschung(Munich: iper, 984).5. Theuseoftheplural eferso the o-authorshipfAleidaAssmannnthefor-mulation fthese deas.SeeAleida ndJanAssmann,chriftndGeddchtnis:eitrdgezurArchdiologieer iterarischenommunikationMunich: ink, 987).6. MauriceHalbwachs, as Geddchtnisnd eine ozialenBedingungenFrank-furt/Main:uhrkamp,985); ndMaurice albwachs,a memoireollective,d. J.Alex-andreParis: U deFrance, 950).7. Ofcourse, verydayommunications foundnnon-reciprocaloleconstella-tions uch s medical namnesis,onfession,nterrogation,xamination,nstruction,tc.But uch habits fspeech"Seibert)lreadyemonstratehigheregree fcultural or-mationndconstitutestage f ransitionetweenverydayndculturalommunication.


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JanAssman 127becomesthe istenern the nextmoment. here re occasionswhichmore or less predetermineuch communications,orexampletrainrides,waitingooms, r the ommonable; ndthere rerules "lawsof themarket"8 that egulatehis xchange.here s a "household"9within he confines f which thiscommunicationakesplace. Yetbeyondhis eigns high egree fformlessness,illfulness,nddisor-ganization. hrough his manner f communication,ach individualcomposes memory hich, s Halbwachs as shown, s (a) sociallymediated nd (b) relates o a group. very ndividualmemoryonsti-tutes tselfncommunicationith thers. hese"others," owever,renot ust anyset ofpeople,ratherhey regroupswho conceive heirunityndpeculiarityhroughcommonmage f their ast.Halbwachsthinks ffamilies, eighborhoodndprofessionalroups, olitical ar-ties, associations, tc.,up to and including ations. very ndividualbelongs o numerousuchgroupsndthereforentertainsumerousol-lectiveelf-imagesndmemories.Throughhepracticeforalhistory,e havegained morepreciseinsightnto thepeculiar ualities f thiseverydayorm f collectivememory,hich,with . Niethammer,ewillcall communicativeem-ory. ts most mportantharacteristics its imitedemporalorizon. sall oralhistorytudiesuggest,hishorizon oes notextendmore haneighty o (at theverymost)one hundred ears ntothepast,whichequalsthree r four enerationsr theLatin aeculum.10hishorizonshiftsndirectelationothepassing ftime. he communicativeem-ory fferso fixed ointwhichwould ind tto the ver xpandingastinthepassing f time. uchfixityanonlybe achieved hrough cul-tural ormationnd hereforeiesoutsidef nformalveryday emory.

8. Pierre ourdieu,squissed'unethdoriee apratique. rgcidedetrois tudesd'ethnologieabyleGeneve: roz,1972).9. Inhiswork,he ociologisthomas uckmannpeaks fthe communicativehousehold"fa society.10. AccordingoT. Hl1scher,hat orrespondsxactlyothe imespanreatedyHerodotus.acitus xpresslyotednAnnalsII 75thedeath fthe astwitnesses ftherepublicn theyearAD 22; cf.Cancik-LindemeiernA. andJ.Assmann. s tothemean-ingofsaeculum s themaximalife pan fthosewhoremembergeneration,eeGlad-igow, Aetas,aevumand saeclorum rdo.Zur Struktureitlichereutungssysteme,"ApocalypticismntheMediterranean orldnd theNearEast,ed. D. HellholmTilbin-gen:Mohr, 983).


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128 Collective emoryndCulturaldentityTransitionOncewe remove urselvesrom he reaofeverydayommunicationand enter nto the area of objectivized ulture, lmosteverythingchanges.The transitions so fundamentalhat nemust sk whetherthemetaphorfmemoryemainsnanywayapplicable. albwachs,sis wellknown, topped t thisuncture, ithoutakingt into ccountsystematically.1e probably houghthat nceliving ommunicationcristallizedn theforms f objectivizedulture whethern texts,images, ites, uildings, onuments,ities, r even andscapes12 thegrouprelationshipnd thecontemporaryeferencere lost andthere-fore hecharacterf thisknowledges a memoireollectiveisappearsaswell. MWmoire"stransformednto histoire."3Ourthesis ontradictshis ssumption.or nthecontextfobjectiv-izedculturend oforganizedr ceremonialommunication,close con-nectionogroupsnd heirdentityxistswhichs similarothat oundnthe aseofeveryday emory. e canrefero the tructurefknowledgein thiscase as the"concretionf identity."ith hiswe meanthatgroup ases itsconsciousnessfunityndspecificityponthisknowl-

edgeandderivesormativendnormativempulsesromt,which llowsthegroup oreproducets dentity.n this ense, bjectivizedultureasthe structurefmemory. nly nhistoricism,s Nietzscheerceptivelyandclairvoyantlyemarkedn"On theAdvantagendDisadvantagefHistoryor ife,"l14oes histructureeginodissolve.15TheCulturalMemoryJust s thecommunicativeemorys characterizedyitsproximity

11. Halbwachs ealtwith hephenomenaeyondhis order. auriceHalbwachs,La topographieIgendaire esEvangilesn Terre ainte; tudede memoireollective(Paris:PU deFrance, 941).There, epresentsalestines a commemorativeandscapethatransformshroughhe enturies.nPalestine,hangenthemage fthe astfollowstheologicalositionshatremade oncretenthe onstructionfmonuments.12. Theclassical xample or primarilyopographicallyrganizedultural em-ory s that f theAustralianborigines ithheirttachmento certainacred ites.Cf.Cancik nA. andJ.Assman,ndHalbwachs,a topographieIgendaire or ther xam-plesof sacred rcommemorativeandscapes.13. Friedrichverbeck,hristentumndKulturBasel, 1963)20ff. ndsimilarlyHalbwachs, a topographieegendaire61ff.reatuch transformationnderhe ubricoffalsificationnd nthe onceptualrameworkfprimevalistorynd heology.14. Friedrichietzsche,Werke,ol.3,ed.K. SchlechtaMunich: anser, 964).15. Cf.AleidaAssmann,Die OnfiihigkeituvergessenderHistorismusnddieKrisedeskulturellenedfichtnisses,". andJ.Assmann.


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JanAssman 129to theeveryday,ulturalmemorys characterizedyitsdistance romthe veryday.istance romhe verydaytranscendence)arkststem-poralhorizon. ulturalmemoryasits fixed oint;tshorizon oes notchangewith hepassing f time. hesefixed ointsrefatefulvents fthepast,whosememorysmaintainedhroughultural ormationtexts,rites,monuments)ndinstitutionalommunicationrecitation,ractice,observance).We call these figuresfmemory."heentire ewish al-endar sbasedonfiguresfmemory.16ntheflow feverydayommu-nicationsuchfestivals,ites,pics,poems, mages, tc.,form islandsoftime,"slands f a completelyifferentemporalityuspended romtime. n culturalmemory,uch islandsof timeexpand ntomemoryspaces of "retrospectiveontemplativeness"retrospectiveesonnen-heit].Thisexpressiontems rom byWarburg.e ascribed type f"mnemonicnergy"o theobjectivationfculture,ointingotonly oworks fhigh rt, ut also toposters,ostage tamps,ostumes,us-toms,etc. In cultural ormation, collective xperience rystallizes,whosemeaning, hen ouched pon,may uddenlyecome ccessibleagainacrossmillennia.n his large-scalerojectMnemosyne, arburgwanted o reconstructhispictorialmemoryf Western ivilization.Thatof course s notourproblem;ur nquirys more eneral. utweare indebted o Warburgoremphaticallyirectingttentiono thepowerof culturalbjectivationn the tabilizingf culturalmemoryncertainituationsor housandsfyears.Yet ustas Halbwachsn histreatmentfthemnemonicunctionsfobjectivizedulture,Warburgoesnotdevelop he ociological spectsofhispictorialmemory.albwachshematizeshenexus etweenmem-ory ndgroup,Warburgheonebetweenmemoryndthe anguage fcultural orms. ur theoryf culturalmemory ttemptso relate llthree oles- memorythe ontemporizedast), ulture,ndthegroup(society) to each other.We want o stress hefollowingharacteris-tics fcultural emory:

16. Halbwachs esignatedtas the bject freligiono maintainhe emembranceofa timeongpast hroughhe ges ndwithoutllowingt obecorruptedy nterveningmemories. albwachs,as Gediichtnis61. Thesharpnessf this ormulation,owever,only pplies otheJewisheligion, hichHalbwachss anassimilatedew idnot reatandhardlyvenmentions.or he roblemfJewishemembranceee YosefYerushalmi,Zachor, ewish istoryndJewish emorySeattle: ofWashington,1982), ndWillySchottroff,edenkenm ltenOrient nd mAlten estamentNeukirchen:eukirchnerVerlag esErziehungsvereins,964).


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130 Collective emorynd Culturaldentity1) "The concretionfidentity"r therelation o thegroup.Culturalmemoryreserveshe tore fknowledgeromwhich group erivesan awareness fitsunityndpeculiarity.heobjectivemanifestationsofculturalmemoryre definedhroughkindofidentificatoryeter-minationn a positive"We are this")or in a negative "That'souropposite") ense.17Throughuch a concretionf identityvolveswhatNietzschehascalledthe"constitutionf horizons." he supply fknowledgen theculturalmemorys characterizedy sharpdistinctionsadebetweenthosewhobelong nd thosewho do not, .e.,betweenwhat ppertainstooneself ndwhat s foreign.ccess o andtransmissionf thisknowl-edgearenotcontrolledywhatBlumenbergalls "theoreticalurios-ity,"ut athery "need ordentity"sdescribedyHansMol.18Connected ithhiss2) itscapacity oreconstruct.o memoryanpreservehepast.Whatremainss only hat whichocietyneacheracanreconstructithintscontemporaryramefreference."19ulturalmemory orks yrecon-structing,hats, talways elatestsknowledgeo anactual nd contem-poraryituation.rue, t is fixed n immovableiguresfmemoryndstores fknowledge,ut veryontemporaryontextelatesothese if-ferently,ometimesyappropriation,ometimesycriticism,ometimesby preservationr by transformation.ulturalmemoryxists n twomodes: irstnthemode fpotentialityfthe rchive hose ccumulatedtexts,mages, ndrules fconductct as a total orizon,nd second nthemode factuality,herebyach ontemporaryontextuts he bjec-tivizedmeaningntots wn erspective,ivingt ts wn elevance.3) Formation. he objectivationr crystallizationf communicatedmeaning nd collectivelyharedknowledges a prerequisitef itstransmissionn theculturallynstitutionalizederitage fa society.20

17. The nevitablegoismfcultural emoryhat erives romhe needforden-tity"Hans Mol) takes ndangerousorms,f he epresentationsf lterity,ntheirela-tion othe epresentationsf dentityself-images),ecomemages fanenemy.f.HansMol, dentitynd the acredOxford: lackwell,976);Gladigow;ndEibl-Eibesfeldt.18. Mol.19. Halbwachs, as Geddchtnis.20. For he roblemfthe tabilityf ultural eaningsee EricHavelock,refaceto Plato Cambridge: elknap, arvard P,1963),where espeaks f"preservedom-munication"swell sA.andJ.Assmann,65-84. or he echnologyf onservationndits ntellectualmplicationsee J.Goody, a logique e l'criture: uxorigines essoci-etishumainesParis:A. Colin, 986).


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JanAssman 131"Stable"formations notdependentn a singlemedium uchas writ-ing.Pictorialmagesandrituals an also functionn thesameway.One can speak of linguistic, ictorial,r ritualformationnd thusarrives tthe rinityftheGreekmysteries:egomenon,romenon,nddeiknymenon.s far s languages concerned,ormationakesplacelongbefore he nventionfwriting.he distinctionetween hecom-municative emorynd theculturalmemorys not denticalwith hedistinctionetweenral ndwrittenanguage.4) Organization. ith hiswe meana) the nstitutionaluttressingfcommunication,.g.,throughormulizationfthe ommunicativeitua-tion n ceremonyndb) thespecializationf the bearers f culturalmemory.he distributionndstructurefparticipationnthe ommuni-cativememoryrediffuse. o specialistsxist n thisregard. ulturalmemory,ycontrast,lwaysdepends n a specialized ractice, kindof "cultivation."21n specialcases of writtenultures ith anonizedtexts, uch cultivationan expand normouslyndbecomeextremelydifferentiated.225) Obligation. he relationo a normativeelf-imagef thegroupengenders clearsystemfvalues anddifferentiationsn importancewhichstructurehe culturalupply f knowledge nd the symbols.There reimportantndunimportant,entral ndperipheral,ocal andinterlocalymbols, ependingnhowthey unctionn theproduction,representation,ndreproductionfthis elf-image.istoricisms posi-tioned irmlygainsthis erspectivalvaluationf a heritage,hichscenteredn culturaldentity:Theparticle"v andtheentelechyfAristotle,he acredgrottosfApolloand of the dolBesas,the ong fSappho nd the ermon fthesacredThekla, hemetricfPindar ndthealtar fPompeii, hefrag-ments f theDipylon ases and thebaths fCaracalla,hedeeds of thedivineAugustus,heconicsections fApolloniusnd theastrologyfPetosiris:verythings a part fphilologyecause tall belongs othesubjecthat ouwant ounderstand,ndyou annoteave nythingut.23

21. In this onnection,iklasLuhmann eferso"cultivatedemantics." iklasLuhmann, esellschaftsstrukturnd emantikFrankfurt/Main:uhrkamp,980).22. Wedistinguishnthis etweenhree imensions:he ultivationftext,.e.,theobservationfword yword ransmission;he ultivationfmeaning,.e.,the ulturefexplication,xegesis, ermeneutics,nd ommentary;ndmediation,.e., he etranslationof ext nto ife hroughhenstitutionsfeducation,pbringing,nd nitiation.23. Wilamowitz,uotednWerneraeger,umanistischeeden ndVortrdgeBer-lin:De Gruyter,960)1-2.


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132 Collective emorynd CulturaldentityAs is well known, herehas been no lack of counter-movements

against herelativismf sucha value-freecience M. Weber). n thename of "life,"Nietzschepposed hedissolutionfthehorizons ndperspectivesf historicalnowledgehroughhehistoricalciences.W.Jaeger nd other eo-humanistspposed t in thenameof education.To add a relativelyecent oice ofprotesto this ist,we quoteAlex-anderRiistowsmonumentalork,OrtsbestimmungerGegenwart,pleafor he humanistictandpoint":- Ifyoueave t thattandpoint,.Cz.), henhe istoryf he oto-cudo, he ulucafer,r ny thereoples ust s interesting,ust simportant,ust sdirectlyinkedoGod, ndwe findurselvesn hemidstf n imlesselativism.24

Thebindingharacterftheknowledgereservedn culturalmemoryhas two aspects:theformativene in its educative, ivilizing,ndhumanizingunctionsnd thenormativenein itsfunctionfprovid-ing ules fconduct.6) Reflexivity.ultural emorysreflexiventhree ays:a) itis practice-reflexiven thatt nterpretsommonracticentermsthroughroverbs, axims,ethno-theories,"o useBourdieu's erm,it-uals (for nstance,acrificialites hatnterprethepracticefhunting),and oon.b) It s self-reflexiventhattsdraws n tselfoexplain, istinguish,ein-terpret,riticize,ensure,ontrol,urpass,nd eceiveypoleptically.25c) Itis reflexivef tsown mage nsofars itreflectshe elf-imagefthegroup hroughpreoccupationith ts wn ocial ystem.26The concept f culturalmemoryompriseshatbodyof reusabletexts,mages, ndritualspecifico eachsocietyneachepoch,whose"cultivation"erves o stabilize nd convey hat ociety's elf-image.Uponsuchcollective nowledge,or hemost artbutnot xclusively)ofthe ast, achgroup ases ts warenessfunityndparticularity.Thecontent f suchknowledgearies romultureocultures well

24. AlexanderRiistow,rtsbestimmungerGegenwart;ineuniversalgeschichtli-cheKulturkritikZurich: . Rentsch,952)12.25. About his oncept f. dentitdt,d. Odo MarquardandndKarlheinz tierle(Munich: ink, 979)358: "About lrnytt:elate o hat hichhe reviouspeaker assaid; compareJ.Ritter, etaphysikndPolitik Studien u Aristoteles ndHegel(Frankfurt\Main969), sp.p.64,p. 66."26. Niklas uhmann,oziologischeufkldrungK61ln: estdeutschererlag,975).


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JanAssman 133as frompoch oepoch.Themannerf tsorganization,tsmedia, ndits institutions,re also highly ariable.The binding nd reflexivecharacter f a heritagean display aryingntensitiesnd appear nvarious ggregations.ne society ases itsself-imagen a canon ofsacredscripture,he nexton a basic set of ritual ctivities,nd thethirdn a fixed ndhieraticanguage f formsna canonof architec-tural nd artisticypes. he basicattitudeoward istory,hepast, ndthus thefunctionf rememberingtselfntroducesnother ariable.One group emembershepast n fear fdeviatingromtsmodel, henextforfear frepeatinghepast:"Thosewhocannot ememberheirpastare condemnedo relive t."27 he basicopenness f thesevari-ables lends hequestion f therelationetweenulture ndmemorycultural-topologicalnterest. hroughts cultural eritage societybecomesvisible o itself nd to others.Which astbecomes videntnthatheritagendwhichvaluesemergen its dentificatoryppropria-tion ellsusmuch bout he onstitutionndtendenciesfa society.

TranslatedyJohnCzaplicka27. George antayana. leidaAssmannsthe ource fthis itation.

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