Constructing cultural memory: A memetic approach

MCP 12 (1) pp. 129–142 Intellect Limited 2016

International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics Volume 12 Number 1 © 2016 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/macp.12.1.129_1

LUKASZ SWIATEK University of Sydney

Constructing cultural memory: A memetic approach ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS

Research on memes has been growing within cultural memory studies. To date, this research has largely focused on the ways in which memes transmit representations of shared pasts. This article, instead, examines how memes are used to construct cultural memory. It makes two arguments: first, that cultural memory can be engineered through memes and can take the form of texts, artefacts or practices. Second, large sets of such memes – ‘memeplexes’ – can help societies not only engage in acts of remembrance, but also help guide their future behaviours and attitudes. However, these processes are problematic, and the article discusses these tensions. The Nobel Peace Prize serves as the article’s case study, with an analysis of the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony illustrating its arguments.

cultural memory memes memetic engineering memeplexes Nobel Peace Prize Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony

Studies in cultural memory have begun to give greater attention to memes, partly due to the growing interest in digital remembrance and in understanding how memories and memes interact (Makhortykh 2015). Studies of memes themselves have also been growing, particularly in the areas of culture, marketing and advertising (Murray et al. 2014). The term ‘meme’, coined by Dawkins (1976: 206), refers to ‘a unit of cultural transmission’ that is replicated across time, individuals and social groups. As Makhortykh (2015: 64) notes, memes can help both propagate and strengthen particular visions of cultural memory, which is understood here in Heller’s (2001: 1031) terms as being ‘embodied in objectivations that store meaning in a concentrated manner’,

129

Lukasz Swiatek

taking the form of texts, monuments and regularly repeated and repeatable practices, such as festivals and ceremonies. Although studies in this area have explored memes, they have not examined in detail how memes can be engineered, especially in clusters, to produce cultural memory. This article fills this gap in knowledge. It recognizes that cultural memory is continually made and remade through interactions between private memories and the ‘public representations and the institutionalization of the past’ (Kosmidou 2012: 9). The construction of memes to transmit such representations embodies the second (symbolic) level of cultural memory, rather than the first (biological) level; it reflects the ‘media, institutions, and practices’ through which social groups construct shared pasts (Erll 2008: 5). A prime example of such representation and dissemination is the Nobel Peace Prize. Unexamined in cultural memory scholarship to date, the Prize and its accompanying texts and practices illustrate a set of memories, drawing on Assmann (2011: 15), that are ‘embedded’ in a range of cultural symbols and social frames that can be understood as engineered collections of memes. The modern Peace Prize is more than just a medal, diploma and monetary sum; it is a group of texts and practices that communicate laureates, their work and ideas, as well as the values of the awarding body, the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The repeated practices include press conferences, especially the announcement made each October, the annual award ceremony, and the yearly Nobel Banquet. The texts include press releases, speeches (given by both the laureate and chairperson of the Committee), an annual exhibition about the laureate (or laureates) created by the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, and the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, held at the Oslo Spektrum arena in honour of the laureates. Other Nobel-related organizations, including the Nobel Foundation and Nobel Media, produce other texts, such as documentaries (Nobel Media 2015), which further enrich the assortment of entities that transmit cultural memory. Hence, in addition to uniting existing knowledge in the area of cultural memory and memes, and expanding this knowledge, this article also contributes to knowledge about the Nobel Peace Prize and its construction and transmission of cultural memory. Understanding this accolade better is significant for a number of reasons. The Prize and its accompanying rituals – especially the ceremony – are significant sites of cultural memory creation. Each annual conferral of the Prize is, drawing on Assmann (1995: 129), a major ‘figure of memory’, sustained through the abovementioned institutional communications and cultural formations. Although the laureates change each year, the Prizes always honour ‘some of the highest human adventures in nature and matter, creativity and justice’ (Feldman 2012: ix) from both the recent and more distant pasts. The Peace Prize, along with all of the Nobel Prizes, forms an international cultural canon, which, as Behrendt et al. (2013: 2) remind us, is ‘a particularly important tool for the construction and dissemination of cultural memory’. The Nobel lectures find their way into documentaries, websites and books, becoming a source of inspiration for many. The Peace Prize’s global scope and long-accumulated symbolic capital mean that the world cares about who will reap its ‘enormous prestige and publicity’ (Feldman 2012: 316). Hence, critically interrogating this international institution, and understanding how it constructs its representations, is vital. The article begins with an outline of current knowledge about cultural memory and memes. It then explains and elaborates the notions of memetic

130

Constructing cultural memory

engineering and memeplexes. While examples relating to the Peace Prize (and, at times, the other Nobel Prizes) are used throughout the article, a final analysis of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony is used to draw together and illustrate its ideas, as well as highlight difficulties and tensions. The ceremony was chosen for its significance in relation to cultural memory as a timehonoured, annually repeated ritual with a range of texts (including speeches and artefacts) and for its global importance and prominence.

The rest of this article is available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/macp.12.1.129_1