"There is currently a great deal of discussion in the humanities and social sciences about collective memory, but there is very little agreement on what it is. The first goal of this volume is to review various understandings of this term to bring some coherence to the discussion. Drawing on this re...view, James V. Wertsch goes on to outline a particular version of collective remembering grounded in the use of 'textual resources', especially narratives. This takes him into the special properties of narrative that shape this process and into the issues of how these textual resources are produced and consumed. Wertsch brings these general ideas to life by examining the rapid, massive transformation of collective memory during the transition from Soviet to post-Soviet Russia." (Publisher)
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"No scholarly consensus exists about how the terms 'memory' and 'collective memory' may most fruitfully inform historical study. Hence there is still much room for reflection and clarification in this branch of cultural history. How war has been remembered collectively is the central question in thi...s volume. War in the twentieth century is a vivid and traumatic phenomenon which has left behind it survivors who engage time and time again in acts of remembrance. Thus this volume, which contains essays by outstanding scholars of twentieth-century history, focuses on the issues raised by the shadow of war in this century. Drawing on material from countries in Europe, and from Israel and the United States, the contributors have adopted a 'social agency' approach which highlights the behaviour, not of whole societies or of ruling groups alone, but of the individuals who do the work of remembrance, who feel they have a duty to remember, and who want to preserve a piece of the past. More specifically, the traumatic collective memory resulting from the horors of the First World War, the Spanish Civil War, the Second World War, and the Algerian War is examined through studies of public forms of remembrance, such as museums and exhibitions, literature and film, thus demonstrating that a popular kind of collective memory is still very much alive." (Publisher)
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"Über die Wandlungsprozesse, die derzeit in der osteuropäischen Medienlandschaft stattfinden, ist wenig bekannt. Die Diskussion und die Entwicklung in allen ehemaligen Ostblockländern ist von besonderem wissenschaftlichen Interesse und von praktischer Bedeutung - auch vor dem Hintergrund der gesa...mteuropäischen Integration. Das Buch gibt Antworten auf die Fragen nach dem Wandel der Medienorganisation, dem Wandel der ökonomischen Situation der einzelnen Medien im jeweiligen Land, dem Wandel des Medienangebots, dem Wandel der Mediennutzung bei Rundfunk, Film und Printmedien und nicht zuletzt zur Veränderung der Beziehung Staat-Medien." (Klappentext)
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