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Personal Memory and Social Power

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Abstract

Brennan synthesises the ideas of Maurice Halbwachs and Pierre Bourdieu to create an approach to memory research that considers how personal recollection is shaped by social power. He makes the case that personal recollection, in memory interviews and other contexts, is practical; that people announce their pasts in a manner that preserves their identity and that is likely to maintain or improve their social standing. It is the practical nature of recollection, Brennan argues that, makes personal memories diverse and, simultaneously, subject to social power and dominant values.

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Brennan, E. (2019). Personal Memory and Social Power. In: A Post-Nationalist History of Television in Ireland. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96860-5_3

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