Archive, Media, Trauma

Abstract

Discussions on memory nowadays seem to proceed in two general directions. On the one hand, there is a growing interest in mediated memory: the various forms by which memory is formed and shared by means of media technologies, especially new media and multimedia. On the other hand, there is a consistent preoccupation with traumatic memory, that is, with the ways past episodes, which have been blocked out of private or public consciousness, return to haunt the present in various displaced manifestations. I want to argue that these two seemingly divergent types of memory (and ways to account for memory) are in fact interlinked, both historically and conceptually. What links them together is the technological apparatus of the archive, which has seen significant technological transformations during the last three decades. These transformations have given rise to new archival formations that in turn feed into the social practice of memory. At issue, then, is a triangulated relationship between archive, media, and trauma, the general outline of which is explicated below. While it is still too early to gain a comprehensive understanding of the developments underway, some emerging trends are nevertheless perceptible. Viewing the archive as a medium of memory may thus offer valuable insights into the contemporary challenges of contending with the past.