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This article explores the campaign by Italian military and civilian authorities following the 8 September 1943 armistice to whitewash the war crimes committed by Italian units from 1940 to 1943 in occupied Europe. This campaign followed a two-pronged strategy: first, the transformation of the Italians from perpetrators to victims by distinguishing the Italians from their former German allies and highlighting war crimes against them; and second, the use of fictitious trials to whitewash the records of military commanders. This concerted effort was finally sanctioned by the Western Allies in the increasingly confrontational climate of the Cold War to bolster one of their main partners, whom they needed to contain the spread of communism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite popular images that depict World War II paratroopers in idealized terms, the U.S. Army's creation of these units unleashed a culture of masculinity predicated on aggressive elitism with significant side effects on the battlefield. This article examines American efforts to create airborne units in World War II and the concomitant effects on these units' treatment of prisoners and sexual violence. The article discusses the difficulty of using fragmentary and inconclusive sources in reconstructing the dark side of warfare. It also offers a reconsideration of popular memory by restoring the harsh reality of war to narratives of American involvement in World War II and the paratroopers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on exploitation theory to argue that the use of underpaid prison labor for digitization projects and other memory work is unethical. Such projects, and therefore our cultural memory institutions, exploit incarcerated people. As the for-profit prison industrial complex only continues to grow and disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and people of color, it is imperative that the information profession recognize its contribution to this moral wrong. To this end, I offer two potential interventions: (a) hiring formerly incarcerated people in memory institutions and (b) clearly and honestly disclosing the use of prison labor to users. Enacting these interventions will not end the exploitation of incarcerated people but will provide meaningful benefits to those who are (formerly) incarcerated and work toward greater transparency with our patrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is well known as the executive center of the brain, combining internal states and goals to execute purposeful behavior, including social actions. With the advancement of tools for monitoring and manipulating neural activity in rodents, substantial progress has been made in understanding the specific cell types and neural circuits within the PFC that are essential for processing social cues and influencing social behaviors. Furthermore, combining these tools with translationally relevant behavioral paradigms has also provided novel insights into the PFC neural mechanisms that may contribute to social deficits in various psychiatric disorders. This review highlights findings from the past decade that have shed light on the PFC cell types and neural circuits that support social information processing and distinct aspects of social behavior, including social interactions, social memory, and social dominance. We also explore how the PFC contributes to social deficits in rodents induced by social isolation, social fear conditioning, and social status loss. These studies provide evidence that the PFC uses both overlapping and unique neural mechanisms to support distinct components of social cognition. Furthermore, specific PFC neural mechanisms drive social deficits induced by different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how Chinese netizens view Russia and how contested memories shape perceptions. It identifies and categorizes four different perceptions of Russia, held by pro-Russian groups, pro-Soviet groups, anti-Russian nationalists, and liberals on China's social media, who have divergent interpretations of the past. This study contributes a distinct case to the literature on Chinese collective memory and facilitates an understanding of Sino-Russian relations at the social level. Theoretically, it enriches the interdisciplinary dialogue between memory studies and International Relations by highlighting the complexity of historical narratives and the instability between the past and the present. It finds that when a collective memory involves multiple significant but symbolically and ideologically competing historical events, it can become a divisive force that creates confusion in the self-other relationship and motivates different social groups to resist and revise official narratives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anna Fickesdotter Bülow (1440s–1519), abbess of the Birgittine Vadstena Abbey in Sweden, was also the author of Chronicon Genealogicum (c. 1515), a genealogical narrative of aristocratic families in late medieval Sweden. Anna Fickesdotter's chronicle is one of the earliest examples of women writing genealogy in Sweden. It sheds light on the roles of women in the transmission and commemoration of family history, genealogy as a gendered imagination and practice, but also the scripting of self as a subjective voice and a woman remembering the past. The account is analysed as an expression of medieval memory culture, where genealogy as a gendered phenomenon had a fundamental impact on the mental, material, and social dimensions of memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bezonken Rood, a novel by the Dutch author Jeroen Brouwers published in 1981 and translated as Sunken Red in 1988, has long been the subject of a fierce debate regarding the Pacific War in the former Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). The novel, a work of autofiction, aimed to bring the Pacific War, which was considered 'an omitted war' at the time, into the public eye. Despite the novel's claim to be true to life, critics identified upon its publication numerous historical inaccuracies, with the most significant critique being that the Pacific War was erroneously depicted as equivalent to the Holocaust. I will study both the novel and debate: I will examine the ways in which the Pacific War is represented and remediated in the novel; and I will analyse the ways in which the novel has contributed to the inscription of the Pacific War as a cultural trauma into Dutch cultural memory. Throughout my analysis, I will draw on concepts derived from the fields of autobiographical writing, critical trauma studies, cultural memory studies, and cultural trauma studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the book "In Visible Presence: Soviet Afterlives in Family Photos" by Oksana Sarkisova and Olga Shevchenko. The book explores the intergenerational transmission of memory through Soviet photographs and practices. It examines how photographs shape and reshape memory, and how they can have different meanings and interpretations over time. The authors also discuss the role of family albums, the impact of state narratives on memory, and the use of photographs in public memorials. The article highlights the importance of photographs in understanding collective trauma and personal memory. [Extracted from the article]

The Jewish past has always represented a distinct chapter in Morocco's history; an embodiment of a historic component of Moroccan society. 'Tinghir – Jerusalem: Les Echoes du Mellah' (2013): a documentary by Moroccan director Kamal Hachkar, excavates history through places and testimonies of Jews who left Morocco towards 'Israel' and Muslims still living in Tinghir in an attempt to investigate the factors that shaped Moroccan Jews' migration. Going back and forth diverse oral narrations about lived experiences, Moroccan Muslims and Jews recall their memories of good neighbourliness and coexistence during the 1950s and 1960s before the exodus. Memories clash and a new generation that did not witness anything about the history of Jews in Morocco except the Jewish cemetery; emerges, and although the perceptions regarding the Jews' departure diverge, the common feelings of belonging, intense nostalgia and diaspora of the soul appears to be shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the relationship between repertoires of action and collective memory by exploring the re-emergence of feminist self-managed health centers in Italy. These were a key form of action of 1970s feminism in the country, which rapidly disappeared after the institution of state-based Family Health Centers. In the last decades, feminist and transfeminist self-managed health centers have resurfaced in several Italian cities. The present article investigates the mnemonic dynamics underpinning the re-adoption of a form of action from the past in subsequent cycles of mobilization. Social movement scholars have stressed the relatively stable and repetitive character of the repertoire of collective action over time, considering it as part of an implicit memory. The article examines a case in which the discontinuous adoption of a form of action makes its retrieval by subsequent activists the result of active memory work. While the study of social movements and collective memory has grown considerably in the last decades, the study of repertoires remains largely under-researched in this field. Filling this gap, this study shows how, by adopting a symbolically and historically meaningful repertoire, activists re-elaborate their collective identity in the present and establish a relationship with previous cycles. It suggests that further research should investigate the relationship between collective memory and repertoires of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Illustration summarizing the major findings of the current work. [Display omitted] • Intranasal MPTP infusion is a suitable model for prodromal PD. • MPTP mice display olfactory discrimination and social memory impairment. • MPTP mice present compulsive and anxiety-like behaviors. • Intranasal MPTP infusion induces enhanced levels of IL-17A in the SNpc. • Intranasal MPTP infusion induces decreased levels of BDNF in the SNpc. Recent evidence has supported a pathogenic role for neuroinflammation in Parkinson's disease (PD). Inflammatory response has been associated with symptoms and subtypes of PD. However, it is unclear whether immune changes are involved in the initial pathogenesis of PD, leading to the non-motor symptoms (NMS) observed in its prodromal stage. The current study aimed to characterize the behavioral and cognitive changes in a toxin-induced model of prodromal PD-like syndrome. We also sought to investigate the role of neuroinflammation in prodromal PD-related NMS. Male mice were subjected to bilateral intranasal infusion with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) or saline (control group), followed by comprehensive behavioral, pathological and neurochemical analysis. Intranasal MPTP infusion was able to cause the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN). In parallel, it induced impairment in olfactory discrimination and social memory consolidation, compulsive and anxiety-like behaviors, but did not influence motor performance. Iba-1 and GFAP expressions were increased in the SN, suggesting an activated state of microglia and astrocytes. Consistent with this, MPTP mice had increased levels of IL-10 and IL-17A, and decreased levels of BDNF and TrkA mRNA in the SN. The striatum showed increased IL-17A, BDNF, and NFG levels compared to control mice. In conclusion, neuroinflammation may play an important role in the early stage of experimental PD-like syndrome, leading to cognitive and behavioral changes. Our results also indicate that intranasal administration of MPTP may represent a valuable mouse model for prodromal PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often assumed that the 1967 Arab–Israeli War and the emergence of Black Power engendered a split between Jews and the New Left. Some understand the rise of Holocaust memory in the late 1960s as an expression of Jewish nationalism, while others locate increased public expression of Holocaust memory within the context of a late 1960s Jewish revival. Either way, both narratives assume the tension between left-wing Jews and Black Power and anti-imperialism, and locate a new American Jewish commonsense of Jewish nationalism abroad and a quickening of Jewish identity politics at home. Yet most prominent Jewish radicals of the 1960s and early 1970s – from Abbie Hoffman to David Gilbert – did not agree. Not only did much of the Jewish New Left in organisations such as SDS and the SWP continue to back the anti-Zionist BPP, many deployed Holocaust and Red Scare memory to formulate their revolutionary global politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to professional norms like objectivity, the emotional experiences U.S. journalists have while reporting tend to be obscured. However, occasions of memory-making, particularly around traumatic events, not only permit expression, but channel these emotions into promoting romanticized visions of journalism. The observances of 9/11 anniversaries in the U.S. serve as one critical site where sanctioned display of journalists' emotions feed into assertions about journalism's social value and, by extension, its legitimacy. Drawing on Zelizer's interpretive communities with Hanitzsch and Vos's discursive institutionalism, this study examines U.S. journalists' retellings of difficult memories, or the emotional, painful, and/or traumatic experiences endured in the course of covering the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Thematic analysis of the first, tenth, and twentieth anniversaries reveals how these recollections reinforce idealized notions of journalists as uniquely compassionate, heroic individuals driven by a sense of duty. In doing so, the analysis establishes difficult memories as unruly rhetorical tools that can both bolster and undermine institutional authority. Ultimately, this study demonstrates how the persistence of nostalgized narratives, exemplified by 9/11 anniversaries, impacts journalism's ability to navigate its past, present, and future amidst ongoing industry decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review identifies three major traditions in British landscape historiography: material/environmental, cultural, and phenomenological. The continuing vitality, methodological rigour, and popular reach of the material tradition is emphasized, notwithstanding persistent questions about the adequacy of its theoretical foundations. Its close cousin historical ecology has meanwhile developed into a broader environmental history, increasingly sensitive to ideological and institutional influences. The development of the cultural tradition, originating in art historical analysis of the 'landscape idea' as a culturally specific 'way of seeing', is traced through a rich proliferation of studies connecting landscape with memory, national identity, and governance, and through feminist, postcolonial, and history-from-below perspectives. The pervasive influence of the spatial, mobilities, and material turns is highlighted but phenomenology's focus on experience perhaps challenges the cultural tradition's premises more fundamentally. Although historians were slower than anthropologists and archaeologists to adopt phenomenology, medievalists and early modernists have applied it rewardingly to topics such as the settings of elite buildings, peasant landscape perceptions, and collective landscape memories. Few modernists have yet embraced phenomenology but it has great potential here given the abundant life-writing sources available. While scope remains for further convergence between research traditions, British landscape history is therefore in an exciting phase of methodological renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the more significant issues to have emerged from the discourse surrounding the Anthropocene has concerned the apparent incommensurability of human and natural history and the vastly different timescales involved. More generally, such discourse raises critical questions about the very different way time is conceptualized in the natural sciences as opposed to in the social sciences and humanities. In this article, I draw on my own disciplinary background in archaeology in order to contribute to these differences and build bridges between the two disciplinary domains by foregrounding the materiality of time. I use a partly allegorical approach inspired by Edwin Abbott's nineteenth‐century novel Flatland to investigate a notion of three‐dimensional of time, which I compare with Gilles Deleuze's three temporal syntheses. The article argues for the concept of Thick Time, which emphasizes the importance of time as constituted by things, whereby things make time rather than exist within it. A material time is one that foregrounds time as a mode of transmission, a "passing on," and of the persistence of the past in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first three decades following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the rapid urbanization in northeastern China and the promotion of atheism education and ethnic integration policies by the Chinese Communist Party pushed Shamanism, the religion of the Manchu ethnic group – a major minority in northeastern China – to the brink of extinction. However, during our investigation of Manchu autonomous villages in Jilin and Liaoning provinces in the Northeast, we discovered an emerging Manchu shamanic group calling themselves "Siden Saman" (Public shaman). They dedicate themselves to restoring Manchu identity and memory and are active in northeastern China. Although they are not the majority of the Shamanic population, they have established their influence in cyberspace. Through our tracking interviews over nearly six months, we believe that the religious practices of the Siden Saman should not be simply understood as an emerging religious force but rather as an effort by them to reconstruct their ethnic narrative. This effort is prominently manifested in their resistance to the history of 'de-Manchurization.' The resurgence of Siden Saman symbolizes the struggle for memory by minority ethnic groups against the backdrop of the long-term implementation of ethnic integration policies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the history and adaptation of Disney theme park attractions into board games. It discusses how Disney has used board games as a marketing tool, licensing their characters and attractions for consumer goods. The article explores the different types of attraction-based board games released over the years and how they promote the parks and provide a piece of the park experience at home. It also analyzes how these games capture the "ride aesthetic" through their visuals and mechanics. The article highlights the games' role in recreating the sensations and dynamics of the rides and how they allow players to assume roles and engage with the theme park experience. It raises questions about the distribution, sales, audience, licensing, and oversight of these games, suggesting that further research in this area will contribute to the understanding of play in the theme park experience. [Extracted from the article]

Drawing on the threefold categorisation of memory as antagonistic, cosmopolitan and agonistic, proposed by Anna Cento Bull and Hans Hansen, the article examines contemporary memory activism in the Republic of Moldova and how it contributes to creating historical narratives. Through an analysis of two memory initiatives, namely 'The Last Address' and 'Stolpersteine', designed to memorialise victims of Soviet repression and atrocities committed by the Romanian and Nazi German forces, respectively, the article uncovers the many challenges facing memory activists in Moldova where there is limited openness about these periods in recent history. Instead, different versions of the past and suppression of painful truths are subservient to contemporary political agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the conditions necessary for a narrative recounting of past events to become memorable and incorporated into collective memory. The analysis is focused on the role played by artistic remediations in creating such memorability. In Romania, as well as in other East Central European countries, the production of memorability and the management of the resulting collective memories are interlinked with the narratives of communism that dominate the memorialisation of the recent past. The article reviews several examples of acts of dissent, based on their representativeness and the existing literature, and question the memorability of dissident acts by considering the memory discourse on communism and the involvement of different agents of memory. It also interrogates the use of the Romanian secret police (Securitate) files in artistic productions, examining this acknowledgement of the role played by the Securitate in creating the narratives of the communist past. Two artistic productions based on reworkings of the Securitate files are analysed: a documentary theatre play staged by Gianina Cărbunariu, Uppercase Print (2013), and Radu Jude's 2020 film of the same title, both presenting the story of Mugur Călinescu. The article argues that these productions question mainstream frames of memory by revisiting the narratives and biographies created by the Securitate files and give new, artistically mediated voices to victims, perpetrators and collaborators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This book review examines "German-Jewish Life Writing in the Aftermath of the Holocaust: Beyond Testimony" by Helen Finch. The review delves into the experiences of four postwar German-Jewish writers and their struggles to publish their works. It explores the themes of the Holocaust, sexual abuse, and racialized violence present in their writings. The review also questions the argument made by Finch regarding the rejection of survivors' testimonies and raises concerns about the validity of her conclusions. [Extracted from the article]

This research recovers the collective memory of elderly people who recall experiences lived alongside the Tagus River in the city of Toledo (Spain). The study develops an individual and collective narrative story to add to our understanding of the relationship between society and its environment during the years 1950–1970. A qualitative methodology is used through documentary analysis techniques and in-depth interviews. The results obtained from the testimonies reflect the influence that the Tagus River had as a natural heritage on the socialization and emotions of Toledo society. The sociological study carried out is unique, since it is the first in which, through collective memory, a contrast is made between the enjoyment of a natural fluvial environment in good condition compared to its current state of an ecosystem in deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rulers often use a mythologised understanding of the past to further their political interests in the present. In authoritarian societies, rulers often manipulate collective memory to justify their hold on power. When rulers manipulate specific aspects of the past, they can shape the collective memory of ordinary people and thus have a significant impact on everyday politics. Using the case of North Korea, one of the world's most authoritarian societies, I theorise everyday politics from the standpoint of the state by focusing on legitimation and collective memory. Based on the New Year statements issued by North Korean rulers between 1946 and 2019, I use thematic coding through qualitative text analysis to analyse how these rulers have portrayed specific aspects of the past in their political discourse. The article focuses on how legitimation claims about the 'Chollima Work Team' within the 'Chollima Movement' have used memory politics to shape the everyday lives of North Koreans. Because these claims have been invoked consistently in propaganda for decades, a comparative examination over time shows the propagandistic tools that North Korean rulers have drawn on for mobilisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autobiographical memory (AM) is episodic memory for personally experienced events, in which self-representation is more important than that in laboratory-based memory. Theoretically, self-representation in a social context is categorized as the interpersonal self (IS) referred to in a social interaction with a person or the social-valued self (SS) based on the reputation of the self in the surrounding society. Although functional neuroimaging studies have demonstrated the involvement of the default mode network (DMN) in self-representation, little is known about how the DMN subsystems contribute differentially to IS-related and SS-related AMs. To elucidate this issue, we used fMRI to scan healthy young adults during the recollection of AMs. We performed multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) and assessed functional connectivity in the DMN subsystems: the midline core, medial temporal lobe (MTL), and dorsomedial pFC (dmPFC) subsystems. The study yielded two main sets of findings. First, MVPA revealed that all DMN subsystems showed significant classification accuracy between IS-related and nonsocial-self-related AMs, and IS-related functional connectivity of the midline core regions with the retrosplenial cortex of the MTL subsystem and the dmPFC of the dmPFC subsystem was significant. Second, MVPA significantly distinguished between SS-related and nonsocial-self-related AMs in the midline core and dmPFC subsystems but not in the MTL subsystem, and SS-related functional connectivity with the midline core regions was significant in the temporal pole and TPJ of the dmPFC subsystem. Thus, dissociable neural mechanisms in the DMN could contribute to different aspects of self-representation in social AMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing works on the sources of secessionist agitations in postcolonial Africa tend to be methodologically nationalist but also circumvent the diasporic dimension. Particularly, the resurgent ethnic separatism amongst Igbos in southeastern Nigeria has been predominantly analysed from the theoretical standpoints of relative marginalisation and material deprivation that focus on domestic politics in post-war Nigeria. We broaden this literature by underscoring the diasporic dimension of this secessionist conflict. Drawing on the literature on diaspora nationalism with a focus on the case of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB)—a transnational separatist movement—we reveal evidence showing how the Igbo diaspora instigate and exacerbate separatist tensions in the homeland by reviving collective memories of the macabre Nigeria-Biafra war (1967–1970) and reimagining alternative political futures for ethnic Igbos devoid of the state's grand narratives of nationhood. We contend that the diasporic dimension is profoundly critical to comprehending separatist agitations in southeastern Nigeria with implications for wider postcolonial African contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2021, the Australian government apprehended several Indonesian fishing boats for carrying out their fishing activities on the sea border between Rote Island and Ashmore Reef. This issue was further exacerbated by the growing demand from the traditional leader of the Rotenese community to reassess the status of Ashmore Reef, known as Pulau Pasir, by the Rotenese. The claim could be traced back to the previous attempt in the 2000s, in which they demanded the Australian government restore Ashmore Reef to Pulau Pasir. Collective memory played a significant role in directing the thoughts and decisions made by Rotenese fishermen, as the passing down of the narrative of origin led them to continue their journeys and activities in the islet. In a struggle to preserve their tradition, however, the fishermen had reached an inevitable encounter with modern-day policy, as the 1974 Memorandum of Understanding closed the dispute. This article shall elaborate on the encounter between two ways of life that shaped the perception of the Rotenese fishermen within the critical approach from studies on collective memory as their basis of survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an analysis of history textbooks and commemorative declarations on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the paper argues that the leadership of the unrecognized republics of Transnistria and Donbas has instrumentalized Holocaust remembrance to legitimize their regimes internally and externally. The use of the Holocaust in historical politics allowed the secessionist regimes to portray themselves as opponents of radical nationalism and representatives of the multi-ethnic population of Transnistria and Donbas. In external relations, the secessionist leaders have used Holocaust commemorations as a tool for self-positioning within international 'memory wars,' and as a channel for the consolidation of the 'civilized' image of unrecognized republics and the extension of international contacts. Despite a quite similar discourse on the Holocaust, the aims of the instrumentalization of the Holocaust in historical politics have differed in certain respects due to the dissimilar challenges faced by the Transnistrian and Donbas unrecognized republics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the different attitudes of the European Union towards Ukrainian and Syrian refugees in its migration policies were examined. The intellectual infrastructure of these attitudes is analyzed within the framework of international relations theories such as The English School, which emphasizes the phenomenon of international society, Social Constructivism theory which emphasizes the construction of common identity and Securitization theory, which examines the process of making a political phenomenon a security issue. In addition to these approaches, the reasons for the double standard of the European Union in their migration policies are also examined in terms of the framework of geographical proximity. It emphasized to what extent the historical memories of European countries have an impact on their migration policies in the text. The theoretical analysis of the different attitudes of the European Union in the face of basically two similar events examined how these policies evolved into xenophobia and how they are fed by the current xenophobic phenomenon in Western Europe. In conclusion, it can be stated that xenophobia is a socio-psychological phenomenon in Western Europe, and this phenomenon is effective both in the determination of daily populist politics and in the attitudes preferred in the face of refugee policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fantasy series Game of Thrones (GoT) has become a phenomenon that reaches far beyond the television screens. Through extensive on-location filming, the series has linked its diegetic world of Westeros to countless heritage sites across several countries, most prominently Northern Ireland. Through narrative and special effects, GoT has overcoded these landscapes with their on-screen identities leading not only to a surge in tourists who want to travel to fictional locations such as 'Winterfell' and 'King's Landing', but also affecting previously established global perceptions and local identities. Previously associated with the heritage of the Northern Ireland conflict, the so-called Troubles, GoT enabled a reimagining of this landscape through popular culture. A multi-sited visual ethnography on the impact of the series on the heritage landscapes of its filming locations reveals that popular culture can create a new heritage – even entirely fictional and one of blood and death itself – that can significantly contribute to overcoming national trauma and memory conflict. This sentiment was especially emphasized by people growing up and living in Northern Ireland, who saw their home's reputation significantly improved and their new role as 'Game of Thrones Territory' as a unifying narrative in an inherently dissonant heritage context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a response to a review of the book "The Great Exodus from China: Trauma, Memory, and Identity in Modern Taiwan." The author expresses gratitude for the review and discusses the interdisciplinary nature of research on social memory. The book focuses on the social traumas experienced by people displaced from China to Taiwan after the 1949 Chinese Communist Revolution and explores the ways in which they undertook social memory production efforts to mitigate these traumas. The author also highlights the lack of literature on the population exodus from China to Taiwan and its implications. The document addresses critiques of the book's analysis of trauma, memory, and reconciliation, particularly in relation to generation, temporality, and events. The author agrees with the critiques but offers some clarifications and reservations. The text discusses the concepts of theodicy, social memory, and cultural trauma in relation to the study of psychic trauma. The author explores the complexities of social trauma and social memory, highlighting the quest for meaning and explanation in the face of devastating events. They argue that memory can be both salutary and problematic, and that shared memories can reinforce victim identities. The author also introduces the concept of "multidirectional empathic unsettlements" as a modality for reconciliation between conflicting traumatic memories. They share their personal journey of grappling with conflicting emotions and developing empathy for the experiences of others. The author acknowledges the challenges of promoting reconciliation and emphasizes the importance of listening and understanding across mnemonic divides. [Extracted from the article]

Collective memories support collective identities and provide lessons for group members to manage present challenges. Three surveys (total N = 1,137) tested whether U.S. nationals who strongly identify with all humanity (IWAH) were more interested in learning about pandemics in history as events that affected the whole world (Study 1) and more knowledgeable about past pandemics (Studies 2a and 2b). Stronger IWAH predicted greater interest in learning about past pandemics, but not greater knowledge of these events. Further, while IWAH was a consistent predictor of support for global cooperation for pandemic preparedness and, to a lesser extent, of compliance with COVID-19 health-protective behaviors, knowledge of past pandemics contributed modestly to these outcomes. These findings suggest that while past pandemics have the potential to become global memories, they are not yet actual global memories that inform a sense of global human identity and offer courses of action for the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that there exists an undesirable link between the factual specificity of the Holocaust and its commemorative prioritization. Following a discussion of the rise of the Holocaust to the moral pinnacle of global memory culture, two primary examples of the enduring nature of this problematic link are advanced. In the first place, the importance afforded to factual specificity functions as an obstacle to the betterment of Eastern European memory. Though disingenuous actors certainly seek to play down local responsibility for the Holocaust, the commemorative primacy afforded to the Holocaust, on the basis of its factual specificity, clouds efforts to distinguish between collaborator apologists and those who inaccurately draw factual comparisons between the Holocaust and other events in order to attain commemorative equality. Second, present-day historians retain the use of words such as "unique", "unprecedented" and "singular". These words are often applied to the Holocaust in such a way that implies that the Holocaust is the only such event, thus mixing the inherently political into scholarly debate. This article argues that both sides of, for example, the recent "German Catechism Debate", ought to abandon the notion that the facts of an event are relevant to commemorative prioritization. Instead, scholarly disagreements over comparative studies should be definitively separated from commemorative decisions. A failure to achieve this separation has repeatedly blocked intellectual progress. Importantly, in criticizing the link between factual specificity and commemorative prioritization, this article avoids a universal denunciation of Holocaust memory (which is often multidirectional) and instead offers a way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This text explores artistic practices in Mexico that aim to bring attention to the issue of forced disappearance and challenge official narratives. One project, Monumento a los desaparecidos, creates an online platform where visitors can share the names of missing people, giving them a voice and creating a repository of voices for public protests. Other artistic projects and forms of solidarity support the search work of family groups and use digital technologies to facilitate these efforts. The article also discusses the challenges of constructing a counter-narrative to the state's representation of the crisis and emphasizes the importance of memory and resistance. It concludes by examining the impact of the "war on drugs" in Mexico and the role of organized civil society in responding to forced disappearance. [Extracted from the article]

This article explores the crisis of disappearances in Mexico and the efforts of families and advocates to challenge the government's control over the issue. It highlights the high number of officially recognized disappearances in the country and the flaws in the government's counting methodology. The article also discusses the obstacles faced by families in reporting disappearances and the dismantling of key institutions responsible for addressing the crisis. Mexican anthropologist María Sánchez Domínguez-Guilarte emphasizes the stigmatization of victims and the need for search collectives to directly narrate their stories to the public. The project El Bosque de la Esperanza aims to create spaces for collective memory work and advocate for justice through a digital platform and a WhatsApp chatbot. [Extracted from the article]

Since the 1980s, softened and positive portrayals of Fascism have become established in public debate in Italy. A key feature in this process of defascistization has been the reduction of Fascism to the cult of the Duce. This article examines how this narrative has emerged, focusing not on the politics of memory but instead on the role of the culture industry, public debate and the media. It examines three distinct but related phenomena: the 'Mussolinization' of Fascism in public narrative as promoted by television and other mass media; the transformation of the electoral system and political language, marked specifically by the shift from the centrality of the collective to that of authoritative and charismatic individuals; the prominent place of the figure of the hero in the popular culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article summarizes the results of a doctoral thesis based on the psychosocial perspective and was justified by the indigenous presence in the city and the lack of public policies that respond to the real demands of the population. It aimed to investigate who the indigenous people are in an urban context and how historical memory is present in the construction of their identity, identifying them as a tool of resistance to colonization. Based on the Participation-Action-Research, the sources of information were field diaries and interviews with three indigenous representatives from two organized groups. From the Constructive-Interpretive Analysis, it can be concluded that the historical memory is configured as a tool in which it expands the identity dimension, making it possible to recognize oneself as an indigenous person from the historical records of memory, favoring the strengthening and resistance in the face of violence experienced in everyday life. In addition, the importance of collective spaces for strengthening the subject was evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The materialist conception of art understands art in relation to the material conditions within and by which art is produced and consumed. For cultural psychology, the materialist conception of art has been useful for developing insights into how individual perceptions are shaped, and are shaped by, culture as a collectively produced and historically embedded site of meaning-making. However, in much of cultural psychology, the relationship between progressive politics and the materialist conception of art remains under-appreciated. In this article, I consider how cultural psychologists might strengthen this relation through artistic shock, that is, a subjective, perceptual, and/or historiographical rupture brought about through the experience of art. In particular, I outline how Bertolt Brecht and Walter Benjamin theorised and practiced artistic shock, and examine what the work of these thinkers could mean for cultural psychologists working with political collectives to grapple with psychopolitical questions related to subjectivity, contradiction, and memory. I conclude by reflecting on how future work that seeks to politicise cultural psychology might engage with the materialist conception of art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article aims to understand the tensions inherent to the commemoration of a difficult and conflicted past and the conservation of dissonant heritage. It explores the politics of memory and identity, and the power struggles that underscore the heritagisation process through a study of the transformation of Rio de Janeiro's port in preparation to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. The paper uses the notion of heritage dissonance to shed light upon contemporary struggles over the interpretation of the port's contested history and explores the debates that have surrounded the 'discovery' of archeological remains, which exposed a controversial past marked by collective amnesia. The paper identifies various actions, instruments, and strategies used by various actors to either support or undermine the project, from inertia and obstructionism to memorialisation and ritual agency. The analysis of these findings reveals the transformative potential of heritage, as an instrument of empowerment in the ideological battle over collective memory, and a tool of resistance against historical denial. It discusses the way debates over heritage have stimulated public debate, inflected the official historical narrative, and allowed the legacies of slavery to infiltrate collective consciousness. The paper concludes with a discussion of how heritage dissonance can engender actions leading to conflict mediation, thereby promoting reconciliation and dialogue, and, ultimately, societal change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a review history of online collecting of current moments, including Hurricane Katrina, September 11, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which have been digitized.

Gobustan, a prehistoric site 60 km south of Baku, has an impressive collection of rock carvings from different prehistoric eras. Near the site, a national museum presents the prehistoric findings in a narrative that connects them with modern-day Azerbaijan, calling the hunter–gatherer tribes that lived in Gobustan 'our ancient Azerbaijani ancestors'. While many nation-building projects dig deep into the past, reconstruct it, claim ancient civilizations as their own and sometimes even invent historical narratives that never happened, the Gobustan Museum and the narrative it implies (that prehistoric people living in 15,000 BCE were Azerbaijanis) seems like 'overkill', an exaggerated effort to connect the past and the present. The data from the museum points to a larger story: the construction of national identity and collective memory in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. This paper presents some of the author's anthropological field research findings in the museum and explains why the narrative of 'ancientness' is so essential in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are known to present sex-specific differences. At the same time, understanding how maternal behaviours are affected by pathogenic mutations is crucial to translate research efforts since rearing may recursively modulate neurodevelopment phenotype of the progeny. In this work, we focused on the effects of Gprasp2 deletion in females and its impact in progeny care and development. Female mice, wild-type (WT), Gprasp2+/− (HET) or Gprasp2−/− (KO) mutants and their progeny were used and behavioural paradigms targeting anxiety, memory, maternal care, and other social behaviours were performed. Analysis of communication was carried out through daily recordings of ultrasonic vocalizations in isolated pups and cross-fostering experiments were performed to understand the effect of maternal genotype in pup development. We found that Gprasp2−/− females presented striking impairments in social and working memory. Females also showed disruptions in maternal care, as well as physiological and molecular alterations in the reproductive system and hypothalamus, such as the structure of the mammary gland and the expression levels of oxytocin receptor (OxtR) in nulliparous versus primiparous females. We observed alterations in pup communication, particularly a reduced number of calls in Gprasp2 KO pups, which resulted from an interaction effect of the dam and pup genotype. Cross-fostering mutant pups with wild-type dams rescued some of the early defects shown in vocalizations, however, this effect was not bidirectional, as rearing WT pups with Gprasp2−/− dams was not sufficient to induce significant phenotypical alterations. Our results suggest Gprasp2 mutations perturb social and working memory in a sex-independent manner, but impact female-specific behaviours towards progeny care, female physiology, and gene expression. These changes in mutant dams contribute to a disruption in early stages of progeny development. More generally, our results highlight the need to better understand GxE interactions in the context of ASDs, when female behaviour may present a contributing factor in postnatal neurodevelopmental trajectory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several lines of evidence demonstrate that the brain histaminergic system is fundamental for cognitive processes and the expression of memories. Here, we investigated the effect of acute silencing or activation of histaminergic neurons in the hypothalamic tuberomamillary nucleus (TMNHA neurons) in vivo in both sexes in an attempt to provide direct and causal evidence of the necessary role of these neurons in recognition memory formation and retrieval. To this end, we compared the performance of mice in two non-aversive and non-rewarded memory tests, the social and object recognition memory tasks, which are known to recruit different brain circuitries. To directly establish the impact of inactivation or activation of TMNHA neurons, we examined the effect of specific chemogenetic manipulations during the formation (acquisition/consolidation) or retrieval of recognition memories. We consistently found that acute chemogenetic silencing of TMNHA neurons disrupts the formation or retrieval of both social and object recognition memory in males and females. Conversely, acute chemogenetic activation of TMNHA neurons during training or retrieval extended social memory in both sexes and object memory in a sex-specific fashion. These results suggest that the formation or retrieval of recognition memory requires the tonic activity of histaminergic neurons and strengthen the concept that boosting the brain histaminergic system can promote the retrieval of apparently lost memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the prevalence of research in Holocaust memory and Holocaust education, the historical development of British Holocaust education remains understudied. This paper reconstructs this history, presenting Anglo-Jewish efforts to teach about the Holocaust in the 1970s for the first time and using the concept of ‘cosmopolitan memory’ to explain its proliferation in the early 1980s. This article argues that the origins of contemporary Holocaust education should not be found in the increase of its teaching with the National Curriculum of 1991 but in the changing culture of memory and history teaching in the late 1970s and early 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain oscillations in humans play a role in a wide range of cognitive processes, including navigation and memory. The oscillatory dynamics contributing to successful spatial memory recall in humans are not well-understood. To investigate specific oscillatory frequency bands during the recall process in human navigation, we recorded electroencephalographic (EEG) activity during a recall trial in healthy young adults (n = 15) following the learning of a goal location in a Virtual Water Maze task. We compared this to the activity during the same trial length, in a group of participants who did not learn a target location and navigated freely but were time-matched to the learning group (non-learning, n = 15). We compared relative power in Delta (2-4Hz), Theta (5-7Hz), Alpha (8-12Hz), Beta (15-29Hz), and Gamma (30-40Hz) bands across the scalp. We found that delta and theta activity were greater during recall in our learning group, as opposed to our non-learning group. We also demonstrated clear suppression in the alpha band at posterior sites during memory-guided navigation compared to our non-learning group. Additionally, when goal-directed navigation switches to focused searching behavior, power becomes greater at the frontal region; with increases in the delta and theta bands reflecting this strategy change. There was also greater beta and gamma activity at posterior sites in our learning group. We discuss the results further in terms of the possible roles and functions of these oscillations during human navigation and hope this exploratory analysis can provide hypotheses for future spatial navigation and memory work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article conducts a social constructivist analysis of the post-2022 debate in Poland to trace how the geopolitical notions of "Central" and "Eastern" Europe have been affected by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia. It shows that the attack stimulated a powerful wave of identification with Ukraine across the political spectrum rooted in Polish collective memories. New opportunities also opened for Poland's self-positioning as a leader in Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, this consolidation did not overcome the enduring domestic political antagonism and the rival political camps continued to promote competing imaginaries of the European order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of collective memory receives increasing attention in international relations. This burgeoning scholarship, however, mainly centres on its role as a strategic tool in foreign policy, binding it to national context. This research uses collective memory as an analytical framework to gauge identification processes at the international level. Specifically, we examine how states self-present themselves with various collective We's and against multiple others. Contingent upon exclusive biographical narratives, we show how states transform and present collective memories in ways that resonate with their particular identity combination. Using inductive comparative analysis of speeches delivered by heads of state of Germany, the United States, and Israel during United Nations General Assembly sessions (1991–2017), analysis demonstrates how states evoke the past to narrate who they are, as states. Expanding understanding regarding how historical events are utilised in foreign policy, findings illustrate the dynamic juggling process states perform with various elements of self. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks what impact temporality and timing have on the ways in which memories are felt and made to matter on social media. Drawing on Taina Bucher's theorisation of the 'kairologic' of algorithmic media, I explore how digital memories are resurfaced or made visible to people at the 'right time' in the present. The article proposes the notion of 'right-time memories' to examine the ways in which social media platforms and timing performatively shape people's engagement with the past. Drawing on interview and focus group data, I explore four ways that right-time memories are sociotechnically produced and felt in everyday life: through an anniversary logic, personalisation, rhythms, and tensions. Ultimately, it is argued that when memories are made to matter in the present is a crucial way to further examine the temporal politics of social media platforms and algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor face-name recall has been associated with age-related impairments in cognitive functioning, namely declines in episodic memory and executive control. However, the role of social cognitive function – the ability to remember, process, and store information about others – has been largely overlooked in this work. Extensive work has shown that social and nonsocial cognitive processes rely on unique, albeit overlapping, mechanisms. In the current study, we explored whether social cognitive functioning – specifically the ability to infer other people's mental states (i.e., theory of mind) – facilitates better face-name learning. To do this, a sample of 289 older and young adults completed a face-name learning paradigm along with standard assessments of episodic memory and executive control alongside two theory of mind measures, one static and one dynamic. In addition to expected age differences, several key effects emerged. Age-related differences in recognition were explained by episodic memory, not social cognition. However, age effects in recall were explained by both episodic memory and social cognition, specifically affective theory of mind in the dynamic task. Altogether, we contend that face-name recall can be supported by social cognitive functioning, namely understanding emotions. While acknowledging the influence of task characteristics (i.e., lures, target ages), we interpret these findings in light of existing accounts of age differences in face-name associative memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses (the restoration of a sense of) continuity as a necessary part of transformative learning. Using the lenses of rhythm theory, biographical learning, and memory studies, it highlights both the individual and social dimensions for making sense of the past after a period of change. Discussing the example of an individual transformation and the social transition of Eastern Europe in the 1980s–1990s, it explores two aspects of the transformation process: the need for stability and the selective and altering nature of our process of remembrance. It advocates for developing the capacity to reflect on how we relate to our past and how we narrate the course of our lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aimed to analyse the social representations of the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship among young people from different autonomous communities in Spain. A free-association exercise elicited by the words 'Civil War' and 'Francoism' was completed by 477 university students of the Basque Country, Catalonia, Galicia and Madrid. Participants were also asked about their national identity and ideological orientation. Lexical analysis was used to analyse their responses, and the results revealed that there is no shared narrative among participants. The results show that most of the discourses constructed for these times go hand in hand with the discourses of the current political parties in Spain, which seek to satisfy the basic needs of the groups and justify their decisions and goals. However, the intergenerational voice also appears in the results showing alternatives to the political and hegemonic narratives of the state. This has significant implications for future research and memory policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When asked to estimate how much their state or nation has contributed to history, people typically provide unreasonably large estimates, claiming that their group has contributed much more to history than nongroup members would estimate, demonstrating collective overclaiming. Why does such overclaiming occur? In the current study we examined factors that might predict collective overclaiming. Participants from 12 U.S. states estimated how much their home state contributed to U.S. history, completed measures of collective narcissism and numeracy, and rated the importance of 60 specific historical events. There was a positive relationship between collective overclaiming and collective narcissism, a negative relationship between collective overclaiming and numeracy, and a positive relationship between collective overclaiming and the importance ratings of the specific events. Together, these results indicate that overclaiming is partially and positively related to collective narcissism and negatively related to people's ability to work with numbers. We conclude that collective overclaiming is likely determined by several factors, including the availability heuristic and ego protection mechanisms, in addition to collective narcissism and relative innumeracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]