Contemporary Auschwitz/Oświęcim

: an interactional approach to collective memory

Abstract

This thesis develops a micro-interactional approach to collective memory. It challenges memory studies’ growing focus on understanding the mobility of memory narratives through time, moving from one historical context to another (e.g. Hirsch 1997, Landsberg 2004, Rothberg 2009, Erll 2011, Rigney and Craps 2017). This research provides an additional approach to this time-focused perspective, by analysing contemporary remembering subjects and how they move between specific interactional contexts. It demonstrates that norms governing specific interactions and expectations from different audiences are at least as important for the content of memory narratives and the way people attribute meaning to the past as are larger historical processes of political socialisation. These theoretical findings result from an empirical analysis of data gathered among inhabitants in the contemporary town of Auschwitz, Oświęcim in Polish. The data were gathered during participant observation (both in face-to-face interactions and in different Facebook groups) and semi-structured interviews with members of one social group in the town of Auschwitz/Oświęcim. As inhabitants of Auschwitz/Oświęcim, my participants are exposed to multiple dominant memory narratives and practices in their home town. This leads them to several ways to explore the past of their town: amateur documentaries, participation in reenactments, and the exploration of the network of SS shelters. Analysis of the group and its members shows that they do not perform one consistent memory narrative, but instead change their narratives depending on the expectations of different audiences in front of which they are performing. These findings assist us in conceptualising collective memory as the flexible, and co-constructed meaning attributed to the past which is emerging from both specific interpersonal interactions and larger socialisation processes.

Date of Award	1 May 2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	King's College London
Supervisor	Jessica Rapson (Supervisor) & Ned Lebow (Supervisor)