SPACES OF MEMORY – “THE PRESENCE OF ABSENCE” CULTURAL MEMORY AND OBLIVION MECHANISMS

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to emphasize the role of tangibility, particularly that of material places relevant for different social or interest groups in the process of preservation and the communication with the past. Ac-cording to various scholars the culture of memory is frequently bounded to concrete spaces, gestures, imag-es, and objects. In the first part of this paper the differ-ence between the biological and neurological foundation of memory will be scrutinized as well the social aims that create relevant topoi which should provide ade-quate identification of different groups with their past. Furthermore, the significance of oblivion in creating the culture of memory will be recognized, likewise its im-portance in establishing mechanisms for remembering different aspects of the past. The second part of the pa-per will be dedicated to Pierre Nora’s definition of the lieux de mémoire, as a way of reviving the past eras and place events, people, and phenomena in our memory. However, not only does Nora’s definition include mate-rial spaces and places, but it encompasses the more ab-stract ones as well – any idea of making a connection with the past in literature, music, etc., with the purpose to avoid oblivion. In the third part of the text, Nora’s ideas will be linked to Foucault’s concept of heterotopia – a way of intersecting things that could or could not be seen in the realm of the same time and space. This thesis could, on the other hand, send us back to mechanisms of cultural and individual memory. The final part of this paper will be dedicated to observing spaces of memory as a place of cultural encounters, therefore, of heritage itself, as a phenomenon that combines different cultures through the use of the past in the present and its preser-vation for the future