Collective Memory Matters: Mobilizing Activist Memory in Autonomous Media

• In Event: Collective Identities and Memories

Abstract

While the matter of counter-cultural collective memory is of growing interest to communication and cultural scholars, not much attention has been paid so far to the mobilization of memory within social movements, and the role of media activists in particular therein. This article draws upon interview-based research with members of Canadian-based grassroots media projects to examine their role in the production, archiving, and dissemination of what emerged as two core dimensions of activist memory, which we call internal or “institutional memory” and “social movement memory.” We found that while Canada-based media activists commonly see themselves as playing the role of movement historians and archivists, the dimension of memory pertaining to the internal histories of media projects themselves, tends to be relatively neglected, due largely to a commonplace scarcity of both material as well as immaterial resources.

Authors

• Kamilla Petrick, Lakehead University

• Sandra Jeppesen

• Ellen Craig, Lakehead U

• Cassidy Croft, Lakehead U

• Sharmeen Khan, Lakehead U