Identity, Memory and History (ISSN: 0874-9671)

Description

The concepts of identity and memory have achieved great relevance in the current historiographical debate. The contemporary societies are in constant self-reflection, debating the process of its own constitution based upon the identification of its elements of unity or of differentiation. History has played an important role in this process, between the recognition of their complexity and the will to establish individual and identifiable groups.
This dossier aims at bringing together studies on these cultural constructions as historical products, deriving from the idea that collective or national identities are not essential facts to human nature or even unchangeable along centuries. The purpose is to discuss the creation of narratives that are “imagined” or modified along time, in conjunction with systems of social organization and material culture. Hence, special attention will be given to historical approaches based on memories and foundational myths from cultural expressions such as literature, art, museums or heritage.
Finally, the topic of collective identities is particularly interesting to understand the tension between social or politically structured memories and individual perceptions of the past.
The following topics, not only to be examined using large scales of enquiry but also to be studied and presented as case studies, are of particular interest (although other contributions are welcome):
- The political construction of national identities.
- The use of history in the creation of collective identities.
- The relation between the different types of memory and history.
- Heritage and museums as sites for memory construction.
- Art and literature as expressions of identity.