The Duty of Memory
Changing Language in the Era of Memory, 1970 - 2010
Published on 1. July 2025
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-1-83695-041-7 (ISBN)
Description
Within France, the expression "duty of memory" (devoir de memoire) speaks to a complex and ever-evolving relationship with the past. Emerging in the 1970s, this term raised questions about memorialization which dominated public debates in the 1990s, highlighting France's entanglements with colonialism and the Holocaust. Drawing on a variety of interviews, archival sources, and data surveys, author Sebastien Ledoux spotlights how the trajectory of this term offers a lens for understanding contemporary societies' relationship with the past on a global scale.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Library binding
Illustrations
Index; 10 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
626 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-83695-041-7 (9781836950417)
DOI
10.3167/9781836950417
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
07/2025
1st Edition
Berghahn Books
€24.49
Available for download
E-Book
07/2025
1st Edition
Berghahn Books
€24.49
Available for download
Person
Sebastien Ledoux is a historian and senior lecturer at the Universite de Picardie Jules Verne. His work focuses on the political, social, and cultural aspects of memory in contemporary societies. He is the author of several books: Le devoir de memoire (CNRS Editions, 2016), La nation en recit (Belin Editeur, 2021), and Histoire et memoires (CNRS Editions, 2024). In addition to this, he has edited several collected works on a variety of topics, including digital memories, memory laws, teaching, and colonial memories.
Content
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Inventing the Origins of "Duty of Memory"
Part I: Emergence (Pre-1992)
Chapter 1.The Sign of a New Language of Memory
Chapter 2. The "Memory of Auschwitz," a New Reference in the Present
Chapter 3. The Invention of "Memory Policy" (1980s)
Part II: Proliferation (1992-1993)
Chapter 4. Publicization of "Duty of Memory" as Part of a Rhetoric of Denunciation (1992)
Chapter 5. "Duty of Memory" as an Official Expression (1993)
Chapter 6. A Sociohistorical Analysis of the Crystallization of "Duty of Memory"
Part III: Grammar (1995-2005)
Chapter 7. The Memory of Holocaust as a Frame of Reference
Chapter 8. A Tool for Mobilizing Other Memories
Chapter 9. "Governance of the Past": The Example of the Vote on "Memory Laws" (1998-2005)
Part IV: Defiance (2000-2012)
Chapter 10. Criticism of Scientific Discourse
Chapter 11. Political Distancing
Chapter 12. "Duty of Memory": A Shift to the Local Level
Conclusion: Duty of Memory: A Global History
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Inventing the Origins of "Duty of Memory"
Part I: Emergence (Pre-1992)
Chapter 1.The Sign of a New Language of Memory
Chapter 2. The "Memory of Auschwitz," a New Reference in the Present
Chapter 3. The Invention of "Memory Policy" (1980s)
Part II: Proliferation (1992-1993)
Chapter 4. Publicization of "Duty of Memory" as Part of a Rhetoric of Denunciation (1992)
Chapter 5. "Duty of Memory" as an Official Expression (1993)
Chapter 6. A Sociohistorical Analysis of the Crystallization of "Duty of Memory"
Part III: Grammar (1995-2005)
Chapter 7. The Memory of Holocaust as a Frame of Reference
Chapter 8. A Tool for Mobilizing Other Memories
Chapter 9. "Governance of the Past": The Example of the Vote on "Memory Laws" (1998-2005)
Part IV: Defiance (2000-2012)
Chapter 10. Criticism of Scientific Discourse
Chapter 11. Political Distancing
Chapter 12. "Duty of Memory": A Shift to the Local Level
Conclusion: Duty of Memory: A Global History
Bibliography
Index