Journal Articles

The Ciphered Transits of Collective Memory: Neo-Freudian Impressions

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How do we explain consistencies in discourses about the past that transcend the different interests
and experiences of their contributors? This paper explores the the problem of cultural transmission as it appears in
Sigmund Freud's Moses and Monotheism, in which Freud claims that that the residues of repressed pasts
can be preserved in the life of the collectivity through means other than explicit transmission or even learning processes of imitation and repetition. These ciphered transits of collective memory pose the greatest challenge for subsequent theorists influenced by Freud, most importantly the German Egyptologist Jan Assmann, whose reformulation of Freud's account as a theory of "cultural memory" the paper outlines and compares to elements in the work of Maurice Halbwachs, the founding father of contemporary work on collective memory.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Social Research: An International Quarterly of the Social Sciences

Call Number

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Publisher

New York : New School., 2008

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

0037-783X

Classification

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Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

Vol. 75, No. 1, Page 1-22

Subject(s)

Sigmund Freud
Collective memory

Specific Detail Info

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