Myndiggjøring gjennom kritisk minnebevissthet: Minnestudier i didaktisk perspektiv

Abstract

This article is a discussion of memory from a didactic perspective. The starting point is to frame memory theory which studies memory processes as phenomena in perpetual negotiation between understandings of the past, present interests and needs, and future expectations. To empower students as independent participants in memory cultures they are part of, it is not enough as history didactics prescribe – to learn history as a narrative about the past based on official sources (as historical epistemology) or through the analyses of different uses of history (as historical phenomenology). Over the past 30 years we have assisted at a "memory boom". Today history can be understood and analysed as one of many different memory acts that define and redefine the past and the societies we live in. In the article, we therefore develop the concept of critical memory consciousness and argue for a memory didactics that empower students by allowing them to analyse memories as resulting from collective, cultural and dialogic processes.