1. Social Memory By James Fentress and Chris Wickham Presented by: Leslie Norman / Meghan Vacca

2. Chapter 1: Remembrance ► To explore how memory functions. ► To explore the way historians and social scientists have regarded memory and used it and to suggest different ways social memory can be better appreciated.

3. ► Memory becomes social once structure has been given to it and it is articulated. ► Memory has a mixed character between personal and social thus it is social memory. As such it is more subjective because of the sharing factor involved.

4. ► Knowledge vs. Remembering ► “We can know something without being able to remember it.” (pg. 4) ► We can know how memory facilitates knowledge by asking what constitutes the experience of memory.

5. Chapter 3: Class and Group memories in Western Societies ► Peasant memories ► Working-class memories ► National memories in the modern period ► Women’s memories

6. Chapter 5: The Mafia and the Myth of Sicilian National Identity ► “In preserving old forms, the mafia showed how the perception of the present can still be dominated by perspectives from the past.” (pg. 198) ► Family honor ► Vendetta

7. ► After the 1860 unification of Italy the story of the 1282 Vespers became a standard concept in Sicily. ► “Morte ai francesi, Italia anela!” ► (Death to the French, Italy is yearning!)

8. ► American mafia legitimized their actions by tying into the noble tradition of preserving family honor. ► The actions are validated by acting out its own myth.

9. Ordering and Transmission of Social Memory ► Oral Memory  The memory of words  Images and memory ► Narrative Memory  Song of Roland  Fairytales

10. Re-Reading the Text ► The authors’ project ► Theoretical background ► Achievement of goals/ ► Reviews/Reception of the book ► Implications for Knowledge Structures