Memory and Culture: A Semiotic Model

Abstract

In light of the broad multidisciplinarity of memory studies and the great variety of concepts of memory it has yielded, should one even attempt a definition of ‘cultural memory’? Nicholas Pethes and Jens Ruchatz find this goal neither realistic nor desirable. Thus, they did not even include entries for ‘memory’ or ‘remembering’ in their interdisciplinary encyclopedia (2001) of the same name. They certainly have a point. The ‘supertheory’ of memory that integrates all the existing approaches has yet to be conceived (on some far-reaching attempts, though, see chapter III.3.3). The goal of this chapter is to outline an heuristic model of cultural memory. This model is rooted in anthropological and semiotic approaches to culture, but at the same time it should leave room for as many points of contact with other approaches as possible.