Jan Assmann Cultural Memory

Ausgehend von Interpretationen zu literarischen Texten des 21. Jahrhunderts, in deren Zentrum Ost-westliche Transfers stehen, macht die Monographie auf einen blinden Fleck der zeitgenössischen Debatte um das kulturelle Gedächtnis aufmerksam. Sie stellt diesem Begriff den des Interkulturellen Gedächtnisses als Ergänzung an die Seite, um terminologisch pointiert zu fassen, was das Anliegen der untersuchten Texte ist. Es geht ihnen um marginalisierte Erinnerungen von Migranten und Migrantinnen, Sexarbeiterinnen oder politisch Verfolgten und – mehr noch – um den semantischen Kampf, diese Marginalisierungen ansprechen zu können. Die Ursache der Unmöglichkeit des Sprechens über diese Erinnerungen, die teilweise so weitereichend ist, dass das Erinnern selbst nicht mehr oder nur noch rudimentär möglich ist, sehen die Texte im Fehlen von angemessenen Formen des Erinnerns. Dass ausgerechnet in der Kunstform Literatur die Möglichkeit gegeben ist, auf das Fehlen dieser Sprachformen hinzuweisen, liegt nicht zuletzt daran, dass es ihr möglich ist, neue Formen und Formulierungen zu (er)finden, indem Aporien oder Widersprüchlichkeiten als solche ausgestellt werden können. Die Texte tun dies – wo es gelingt – vor allem durch den Transfer und das Verweben verschiedener Gedächtniskulturen, die nicht immer international, aber doch immer interkulturell sind. Das Buch ist erschienen und erhältlich  bei Königshausen & Neumann (www.koenigshausen-neumann.de).

The article discusses a postulate of the leading Russian Sumerologist Vladimir Emelianov (Voprosy filosofii 2011, No. 8). He states that only the modern scholarship since the eighteenth century has developed the method of “archaeological penetration” into the ancient history that allowed seeing in its epochs the reflections of here-and-now. Its background was the feeling of historical process. The division of history into big epochs was totally absent, according to Emelianov, in early antiquity and in Ancient Egypt. Here he strongly opposes the idea of Jan Assmann that each new epoch of Egyptian history addressed the “cultural memory” of the past to position itself as a return to it. However, the analysis shows that the Egyptian sources, i.e. the Royal Canon of Turin and the work by Manetho, as well as the reception of Egyptian historiography by Classical authors reveal conceptualized division of the past into big periods. Addressing ancient archives, researching and restoring ancient monuments was an important practice for Ancient Egyptians. This idea is expressed in the Papyrus Westcar, the first cycle of Setne Khamwas, the Famine Stela, the activities of the historical Prince Khaemweset etc. The ideological concept of return to the great past is exemplified best of all in the Renaissance of the Saite time (the seventh and the sixth centuries BCE). However, earlier epochs of Egyptian history also give similar examples, for example, the aspiration of kings in the late First Intermediate Period and the early Middle Kingdom to return capital to Memphis, i.e. in a sense, to return to the Old Kingdom. Thus, Emelianov’s postulate reveals an impressive ignorance of real evidence.

A SOCIAL GENDER APPROACH TO MEMORIES IN THE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES OF THE SAME PERIOD
Literary genres, defined as memoirs or autobiographies, include selections from the individual history, if they give more space to social events or private life. These features differ from the official date, which is recorded from day to day and from the point of view of the governors of that day. In the documents of official history, while the approach to events and people changes in the course of system over time, there is generally no change in people-focused memoirs / autobiographies that emphasize the direction of documents. These two types of documents, which record a certain period of time with different techniques, can be classified in terms of the gender of the author as well as the institutional and individual dilemma. Also the question of how accurate it is to generalize the differences in the passed on narratives of women or men who have gained their stance and evaluation according to their sex in the process of socialization to younger generations of what they have experienced is examined. The distance traveled by autobiographies in the direction of social change, in this written journey to the past as much as the momentary writer's purpose and the expectation of the readers, will be questioned in the direction of social memory-individual memory researches. Hatıralarım (The Memoirs) by Zekeriya Sertel (2015) and Roman Gibi (Like a Novel) (2015) by Sabiha Sertel will be examined comparatively by considering the writers' world views and characters.

In Late Antiquity, churches appeared as alternatives to earlier public places in Rome. They became the new civic and political focal points, and dedications, self-representation and the like could now be performed here. As was the case of the Basilica of St. Peter, which took over political and ideological functions, occasionally even becoming a part of the imperial adventus and triumphal representation, hereby rivaling the fora.
Based on archaeological, epigraphic and literary evidence this paper will examine the basilica, focusing on the transition of political and social functions from the fora of Rome to the church. Furthermore, the basilica will be examined as a place of collective memory and Roman identity. A place for continuing the traditions previously upheld in the fora, but also a place of innovations. Furthermore, the basilica will be examined as a part of a new Christian narrative: By manipulating the Roman collective memory, cleverly using the churches, the bishop, emperor, and Christian aristocracy were moving the political center of the city from the fora to the churches and rewriting the story of Roma Aeterna as Roma Cristiana.

This paper offers a mnemonic analysis of rulers’ images portrayed on Neo-Assyrian palace reliefs dating from the reigns of Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883-859 BCE) through Ashurbanipal (r. 668-627 BCE). Based on Jan Assmann’s concept of ‘cultural memory’, I specify a subcategory of ‘elite ideological memory’ and define it as a mechanism that maintained royal authority through a subjective construction of the past. Manifested in royal art, I propose that elite ideological memory sustained what the king and a courtly cadre would have recognized as an infinite timeline in which the past, present and future of Assyrian kingship were conceptually fused as a durative state of perfection. Because the body is mortal and elite ideological memory was a fundamentally eternal phenomenon, I argue that rulers’ images, which were imbued with divinity, would have been prioritized over the biological body as vehicles of everlasting imperial power. [NOTE: I am not permitted to upload a PDF of this essay.]

Resumen: El trabajo estudia la conformación de identidades colectivas a partir de la distinción entre historia y memoria. Tras presentar algunas consideraciones generales sobre el origen freudiano de la fenomenología de la cultura de Jan Assmann, su contribución es enmarcada en el contexto de la querella de los historiadores. Por último, las tesis de Assmann sobre la institucionalización de la memoria colectiva como memoria cultural son aplicadas al actual éxodo provocado por el fanatismo religioso.
Abstract: This paper deals with the configuration of collective identities according to Jan Assmann’s distinction between history and memory. After presenting some general reflections on the Freudian origins of Assmann’s phenomenology of culture, his contribution to a cultural theory is contextualized in the framework of the Historians’ Quarrel. Finally, Assmann’s thesis on the institutionalisation of collective memory as cultural memory are applied to the current exodus caused by religious fanaticism