Collective Memory-Work is a method of research, a method of learning and reflection, developed by Frigga Haug and the group Frauenformen in the 1980s at the intersection of academic research in sociology and critical psychology, feminist and Marxist theory, and political practice. In its original format it entails a group reflecting on a topic of shared interest by using short written memory scenes of the group members as the core material. It can be used in, e.g., social research, adult education, social activist groups, professional reflection processes.
The term Collective Memory-Work is prone to a common misunderstanding. Here it refers to a group working collectively with individual memories, hence Collective Memory-Work. It does not refer to working with collective memories (or cultural memories) as, e.g. in history workshops.
Over more than three decades the method has been successfully used in a variety of fields. It has been adapted and adjusted according to purposes of the applications, institutional frameworks, organisational necessities and methodological considerations.
From the outset Collective Memory-Work was intended to be an emancipatory method with a consciously open form. Over three decades the method has been successfully used in academic research in a variety of fields. It has been adapted and adjusted according to purposes of the applications, institutional frameworks, organisational necessities and methodological considerations, leading to further developments of the method. Narrative transformation, collective autoethnographic memory-work, mind-scripting, collective biography are some of the terms that reflect these developments.
In a special issue of Other Education edited by Robert Hamm you will find a range of essays, contributions and reviews of books, all of which are connected to Collective Memory-Work as a method of emancipatory learning. Bringing together contributions by authors from the United States, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Germany, Austria, South Africa crosses boundaries in a manner that has not yet been applied in publications on Collective Memory-Work. Thus a bandwidth of discussions about adaptations of the method becomes visible that reflects its ongoing dissemination across continents, and disciplines.
The contributions in this issue are derived from discussions of educational topics. They should however be seen as closely related to a much broader development in which Collective Memory-Work becomes increasingly interesting to people in a wide variety of fields. An extended attempt to bring practitioners, proponents and critics of Collective Memory-Work into a dialogue with each other is the Symposium Collective Memory-Work that is planned for August 2021 at Maynooth University, Ireland. It is meant to offer a forum for exchange about experiences with the method, methodological rationales in adapting it, visions for further improvements and fruitful applications, as well as critical scrutiny of Collective Memory-Work.