Table Of Content“Collective memory starts in the family. This rich and exciting collection pro-
vides deep insights into the dynamics of family memory across the globe. It is
an indispensable companion for all those working in the field of transnational
memory studies.”
Astrid Erll, Professor of Anglophone Literatures and Cul-
tures, Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany
“This timely collection offers a rich history and a compelling argument for the
study of family memory. It opens new and exciting paths for memory studies
and beyond, and will become an instant touchstone for scholars across disci-
plines. The global take of this truly international volume is much-needed in a
field that has often been national or euro-centric in focus.”
Ashley Barnwell, Senior Research Fellow in Sociology,
University of Melbourne, Australia
FAMILY MEMORY
In Family Memory: Practices, Transmissions and Uses in a Global Perspective, re-
searchers from five different continents explore the significance of family mem-
ory as an analytical tool and a research concept.
Family memory is the most important memory community. This volume
illustrates the range and power of family memories, often neglected by memory
studies dealing with larger mnemonic entities. This book highlights the poten-
tial of family memory research for understanding societies’ past and present and
the need for a more comprehensive and systematic use of family memories. The
contributors explain how family memories can be a valuable resource across
a range of settings pertaining to individual and collective identities, national
memories, intergenerational transmission processes and migration, transna-
tional and diasporic studies. This volume presents the past, present and future
of family memory as a prospective field of memory studies and the role of
family memory in intergenerational transmission of social and political values.
Family memory of violent events and genocide is also looked at, with discus-
sions of the Armenian Genocide, Russian Revolution and Rwandan Genocide.
This book will be an important read for cultural and oral historians; family
historians; public historians; researchers in narrative studies, psychology, poli-
tics and international studies.
Radmila Švarˇícˇková Slabáková is an Associate Professor of History at
Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. She is the author of numerous
publications on memory, oral history, gender and modern historiography.
Memory and Narrative
Series editors: Selma Leydesdorff, Nanci Adler, Albert Lichtblau, Yifat Gutman, Mark
Cave and Anna Sheftel
Please send any book proposals for this series to Anna Sheftel (asheftel@gmail.
com) for consideration.
Memories of Mass Repression: Narrating Life Stories in the Aftermath of Atrocity
Edited by Nanci Adler, Selma Leydesdorff, Mary Chamberlain and Leyla Neyzi
Witnessing Australian Stories: History, Testimony, and Memory in Contemporary
Culture
Kelly Jean Butler
Tapestry of Memory: Evidence and Testimony in Life-Story Narratives
Edited by Nanci Adler and Selma Leydesdorff
Double Exposure: Memory and Photography
Edited by Olga Shevchenko
Negotiating Normality: Everyday Lives in Socialist Institutions
Edited by Daniela Koleva
Sasha Pechersky: Holocaust Hero, Sobibor Resistance Leader, and Hostage of History
Selma Leydesdorff
Narratives of War: Remembering and Chronicling Battle in Twentieth-Century
Europe
Edited by Nanci Adler, Remco Ensel and Michael Wintle
Family Memory: Practices, Transmissions and Uses in a Global Perspective
Edited by Radmila Švaˇríˇcková Slabáková
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge .com
FAMILY MEMORY
Practices, Transmissions and
Uses in a Global Perspective
Edited by
Radmila Švaˇrˇcí ková Slabáková
Cover image: © Ron Waddams / Bridgeman Images
First published 2021
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Radmila Švarˇícˇková Slabáková;
individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Radmila Švarˇícˇková Slabáková to be identified as the
author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Švarˇícˇková-Slabáková, Radmila, editor.
Title: Family memory : practices, transmissions and uses in a global
perspective / edited by Radmila Švarˇícˇková Slabáková.
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Series: Memory and
narrative | Includes bibliographical references and index. |Identifiers:
LCCN 2021037163 (print) |LCCN 2021037164 (ebook) Subjects:
LCSH: Genealogy. | Collective memory. | Families.
Classification: LCC CS3 .F36 2022 (print) | LCC CS3 (ebook) |
DDC 929.1—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021037163
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021037164
ISBN: 978-0-367-74091-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-70174-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-15604-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003156048
Typeset in Bembo
by codeMantra
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements xi
List of Illustrations xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
Notes on Contributors xvii
Foreword by Alessandro Portelli xxi
1 Family Memory as a Prospective Field of Memory
Studies: Past, Present, Future 1
Radmila Švaˇr íˇc ková Slabáková
PART I
Private and Public Practices of Building Family Memory 25
2 Family Voices and the Practice of Memory:
Five Generations of Women in Rome 27
Barbara Ronchetti
3 The Buarque de Holanda: Family Memory and Political
Engagement in the Public Space in Brazil 45
Giselle Martins Venancio
4 The Ntsimane Family Traditions and Rituals in Pre- and
Post-1994 South Africa 60
Radikobo Ntsimane
viii Contents
PART II
Intergenerational Transmission of Social and
Political Values 77
5 Czech Family Stories of Communism:
Family Memories at the Intersection of Family Values,
Family Relations and National Memory 79
Radmila Švaˇríˇcková Slabáková
6 Family Memories for Communism in Bulgaria:
Destiny and Resource 96
Ilia Iliev
7 Family Memories of Second-Generation Republican
Women Exiled to Mexico 112
Pilar Domínguez Prats
PART III
Family Memory of Violent Events and Genocide 129
8 “Facts, Not Emotions”: Changing Generational Needs
and New Meanings of the Memory of the
Armenian Genocide 131
Öndercan Muti
9 Family Memories and the Development of the
Genocide Ideology in Rwanda 147
Philippe Denis
10 Exile and Soviet Memoirs: Family Mansions in
Aristocratic Family Memories after the Russian Revolution 162
Zbyněk Vydra
PART IV
Family Memory, Family Identity and Digital Media 177
11 Family Memories, Family Histories and the Identities
of Settler Family Descendants in New Zealand 179
Anna Green
Contents ix
12 What do Family Memories Mean?: Navigating the
Unfinished Archives after the Partition of India 197
Indira Chowdhury
13 “Got My Finn Tattoo!”: Sharing Family Memories
on Facebook 214
Anne Heimo
Index 231
