Historical Memory and Nostalgia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfnzYeTAc60

This is a really interesting TED talk on history and memory, which I think is going to be my personal focus in this project as a politics and history student.

In this talk filled with historical marks and figures, Eghosa Imasuen reminds us all that our present is history in the making and that the men and women of the past were no less human and no less filled with stories than we are. Are we making a history that would be celebrated in times to come?

This ties in really nicely with the idea of the historiographical approach of 'post-truth', something me and Mylo will be looking at together before our workshop on Friday. Post-truth is the idea that in history there are always infinite competing narratives; personal, cultural and in the perspectives of different groups in society, that it is difficult or near impossible to draw one objective 'truth' of the past. Events are so subjective that there are facts and names and dates, but all translate differently to different peoples experiences and perspectives.

This can become complicated when looking at periods of history that are particularly politically charged. Post-truth in the political sphere signifies where "objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief". In contemporary politics, this can be seen in parties appeal to 'nostalgia' and 'nationalism' when campaigning as a priority over the aims or ambitions of manifestos. I will look at this in specific reference to both Brexit and Trump's presidency in later blog posts. This phenomena contributes to the increasing obscuring of facts and our sense of what is 'true'.

In less contemporary politics, examples in history can show the influence of cultural memory and nostalgia on how we understand the past. In my personal area of interest, this is particularly fascinating over the years of the Franco dictatorship in Spain. The earlier years of his regime, saw horrific oppression and persecution of millions of Spanish people during and in the wake of the Spanish civil war. The humanitarian crimes committed were vast, yet in his later years, Franco scaled back the terror and is mainly remembered from this time for greatly improving Spains economy. The parallel of experiences that different generations have had under Franco have created a stark contrast in the personal historical memory of people which in turn creates two very opposing cultural historical memories. To many, this personal nostalgia can construct a false history when confronted with other's realities of the past. Antonia and I are going to hone in on this case study this week, but I just wanted to introduce the idea and hopefully give you all some more food-for-thought!

Posted by Kat