Memory Acts: Memory without Representation. Theoretical and Methodological Suggestions
Publikation: Arbeits- oder Diskussionspapiere und Berichte › Arbeits- oder Diskussionspapiere
Authors
In  the  paper  I  use  arguments  from  Ludwig  Wittgenstein,  John  L.  Austin,  Jacques  Derrida,    Judith Butler and  the  ethnologist  Johannes  Fabian  to  show  how  the  concepts  of  collective  memory,  of  speech  acts  and  of  performativity  can  help  to  formulate  some  ideas  about  what  a  theory  of  and  research  about  transcultural  European  memory  can  deal  with.  The  positions  of speakers  or  agents  and the question of responsibility play a fundamental role in this argument.Analysing  the  contextual  uses  of  memory  acts  will  allow  not  only  going  beyond  the  sharp  binaries  between the individual and the collective and between the national and the global, but  also beyond the  binary  between  history-  as-it-was  and  memory.  In  his  so-called  private  language  argument,  Wittgenstein argues against theories of meaning that attempt to define the meaning of language in terms of private, mental acts.  His  argument  is  to  be  read  as  a  reductio ad absurdum of  the  idea  of  a  private   memory   and   of   the   possibility   of   private   language   meaning   as   well.   Furthermore,   Wittgenstein  argues  against  theories  of  representation  in  regard  to  explain  linguistic  and  cultural meaning. His argument will be combined with Austin’s theory of speech acts and Butler’s concept of performativity in order to suggest the notion of memory acts.  I would suggest that instead of holding on to the distinction between various kinds of memory cases, further  research  should  give  more  attention  to  different  aspects  of  memory  acts  and  should  avoid  talking about representation when explaining the uses of memory. A Wittgensteinian-Austinian stance can possibly help to analyse the dynamics of “representation” of migrants’  memory  in  the  media,  the  relation  between  power  and  memory,  and  the  problem  of  European memory in relation to the issue of old and new boundaries. The abdication of the master concept  of  representation  will  help  to  examine  the present  and  future  of  memory  negotiation,  transmission  and  construction,  not  just  the  past,  and  to  develop  first  steps  of  a  theory  about  the  relation between memory and truth.
| Originalsprache | Englisch | 
|---|---|
| Erscheinungsort | LUND | 
| Verlag | Centre for European Studies at Lund University | 
| Anzahl der Seiten | 23 | 
| Publikationsstatus | Erschienen - 2013 | 
- Philosophie
 
