Collective memory: The two cultures

What is collective about collective memory? Two different concepts of colle ctive memory compete-one refers to the aggregation of socially framed indiv idual memories and one refers to collective phenomena sui generis-though th e difference is rarely articulated in the literature. This article theorize s the differences and relations between individualist and collectivist unde rstandings of collective memory. The former are open to psychological consi derations, including neurological and cognitive factors, but neglect techno logies of memory other than the brain and the ways in which cognitive and e ven neurological patterns are constituted in part by genuinely social proce sses. The latter emphasize the social and cultural patternings of public an d personal memory, but neglect the ways in which those processes are consti tuted in part by psychological dynamics. This article advocates, through th e example of traumatic events, a strategy of multidimensional rapprochement between individualist and collectivist approaches.