From the Editors: Change of the Guard

From the Outgoing Editor

Twelve years are quite a long time—perhaps too long—as editor of a journal, even when assisted by such an able colleague as Philippa Shimrat. For the past twelve years, History & Memory, which pioneered the historical study of memory back in 1989, has sought to publish some of the best work in a rapidly expanding field that has become almost impossible to chart. If in the 1980s “memory” had as yet to be established as a topic, by now almost everything threatens to turn into “memory”—not only representations of the past, but whole branches of culture.

In this changed context, History & Memory has sought to insist on some issues often ignored by the ever-increasing “memory industry”: questions about audiences and forms of appropriation, about the role of lay and popular traditions in contrast to specialists of commemoration, about lived memory, traumas and experience. It asked contributors to rethink terms such as “collective memory,” to be careful about assumptions concerning the effectiveness of monuments and lieux de mémoire, to be attentive to what anthropologists and oral historians can tell us about the presence of the past. Since its founding by Saul Friedländer, History & Memory—understandably enough—tended to focus on the traumatic experiences of the twentieth century, their traces and representations, especially that of the Holocaust. We have sought to retain this focus while expanding the framework and bringing other sites, other voices, both non-European and premodern, into the discussion.

We cannot claim to have achieved all we set out to do, far from it. Scholarly journals tend to reflect the currents in a particular field of study—even when the field, as in the case of the study of representations and uses of the past—is enormous and almost boundless. A lot remains to be done. It is therefore with a sense of satisfaction and optimism that I welcome my friend and colleague, Prof. José Brunner, as my successor in the role of senior editor of History & Memory. I can think of no better choice and am looking forward to seeing what shape History & Memory will assume in his hands.

Gadi Algazi

From the Incoming Editor

It is with some trepidation but also with much excitement that I take upon myself the task of senior editor of History & Memory. I am in awe of the pioneering work Saul Friedländer achieved with this journal concerning the memory of the Holocaust, as well as of the tremendous expansion of focus accomplished by Gadi Algazi, which turned the journal into a leading scholarly publication in this field, concerned with all forms and manifestations of collective memory and historical consciousness, independent of theoretical outlook, geography and period.

In order to maintain and buttress History & Memory’s function as a pivotal platform of research in this vast and complex area of scholarship, it is crucial to continue the open approach established by Gadi, while maintaining the highest possible academic standards and critically reconsidering the theoretical assumptions guiding the field. I am most grateful to be able to count on Philippa Shimrat’s highly professional expertise in this endeavor.

Due to the excellence and broad spectrum of research published in History & Memory I see no need for any urgent or drastic changes in editorial policy. Along with its interest in the legacies of Nazism, fascism and the Holocaust, the role of memory in modern and premodern cultures, and the relationship between historical research and images of the past in different societies and cultures, there are, however, some additional questions that I would like to see addressed in the journal.

So far, research published in this journal has mostly focused on collective memory that has been negotiated and articulated in print, commemoration ceremonies and memorial sites, exploring their workings almost exclusively with reference to national political events and processes. In this global and transnational world the new media play a crucial role as providers of popular history and memory beyond state borders, not only for the younger generation but, at least in the West, for the general public...