Collective Memory
From DigitalRhetoricCollaborative
Contents |
Introduction
Memory is classically thought of as the rhetorical canon that allows a rhetor to speak at length without consulting notes. However, the modern definition has a bit more to it. Memory in modern rhetoric is linked to historical, social, and cultural memories, and it requires a few key things of its participants. First, they must have an understanding of language, social codes, and symbols (Blair 53). Second, they must share a background of knowledge (Blair 54); this could be as simple as a couple fighting, and both participants know and understand what it is they are fighting about. Third, an audience must have the ability to remember and accumulate the arguments stated during a speech (Blair 54). Lastly, the audience must have a cultural understanding of stereotypes of groups; for example, the idea of honor and valor being attached to people who serve in the military (Blair 55). If these requirements are all accounted for, a rhetor can successfully call on his audience’s collective memory. Sentence [1]
Artifact Analysis
President George W. Bush’s speech was given in response to the September 11th, 2001 attack on the Twin Towers. Excerpt from his speech: On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country. Americans have known wars -- but for the past 136 years, they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of war -- but not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning. Americans have known surprise attacks -- but never before on thousands of civilians. All of this was brought upon us in a single day -- and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack.
Additional Resources
References
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