Our ASTU class has focused on the theme of memory, and explored the connections and distinctions between collective memory, individual memory, national memory, and technologies of memory. These are all part of our daily life, but with my increased awareness of their nuanced forms, I’ve seen how they come together in the formation of my personal recollections.
As you will all be familiar with, yesterday was Remembrance Day – an important day of the year for Canadians to show gratitude toward our veterans and those currently serving our country in the military. I come from a small town in the BC interior, where all public ceremonies including Remembrance Day have a certain close-knit feel to them. It is routine for my community to gather in the streets around the cenotaph, share a minute of silence together, and spend the remainder of the time drinking hot chocolate and socializing while personally thanking veterans from our city. What is traditionally a formal event that emphasizes silence and mourning, has gradually shifted into an arena for shared memory that flows in and out of our casual conversations. I always leave the ceremony with a mixture of sadness and guilt because of the reminder this day serves in showing my privileges I often take for granted. However, I also walk away with a renewed sense of belonging attained from my interactions with my “interpretive community” – a term previously introduced by education scholar Farhat Shazhad, which labels those who influence our interpretations of memory through close interactions.
This year the crowd of familiar faces was replaced with a sea of strangers as I gathered at the UBC War memorial gym for the Remembrance Day ceremony. The apparent difference in my interpretive community for this commemoration led me to look at the different components of memory we’ve discussed in class, and how they were all coming together before me as I sat in my chair among hundreds of others.
Remembrance Day ties together several of the scholarly discussions on memory that we have covered in class. What is most obvious in collective events like these, is the formation of a collective memory. Many of us, myself included, have not experienced war and rely on the broadcasting of individual memories and experiences to form an understanding. Here we see how an individual memory of a veteran can transform into a collective memory of a community through the agency of a Remembrance Day ceremony. Given that this is an event that takes place in thousands of communities across Canada, it then becomes part of a national memory.
As we have heard from communications scholar Marita Sturken, a war memorial can be seen as a technology of memory in that it facilitates the process of shared memory in a public realm. The same can also be said about the poppies that are worn by Canadian’s throughout the month of November, which symbolize the act of remembering our past and, when worn in public, can create a collective memory. For a visual on this process of remembering, the below commercial demonstrates how wearing a poppy in public can have an affect on others, thereby strengthening collective, cultural, and national memory.
Lest We Forget
-Lauren
Video retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7ESRBMk36E
