The Memory Revolution and the 21st Century Genealogy Boom

• In Event: 228 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 09. Culture and Memory

Abstract

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, many scholars have noted that we are in the midst of a “memory boom,” as evidenced by our eager consumption of “the past,” whether in the form of selfies, historical fiction, costume dramas, antiques or all things “ancestral.” This paper argues that modernity fundamentally transformed memory-making by externalizing, democratizing, expanding, commodifying and incentivizing it. The recent popularity of genealogy is one manifestation of this memory revolution.

Author

• Jackie Lee Hogan, Bradley University