Memory in Times of Crisis: Argentina, Spain and Greece, 1998 to now

MeTC examines how people in networked societies recall the recent past (ReP) in times of economic recession through the lens of social media (SoM). It explores the connections between crises and memory politics by investigating Facebook, Instagram, and internet forums in Argentina, Spain, and Greece (ASG) – three countries which transitioned to democracy between 1974 and 1982 and experienced optimism and prosperity in the proceeding years before they suffered from economic crises. MeTC is a comparative, interdisciplinary historical and digital-ethnographic project which links two methods of digital ethnography (invisible observation; immersive cohabitation) with oral history and intermedial and multimodal analysis. The project aims to: a) analyse memories of the ReP during crises in SoM in ASG; b) employ its own SoM to trigger discussions on the relationships between the present and the ReP on the basis of stimuli gathered through archival research; c) scrutinise the politics of these SoM-driven mnemonic communities through oral interviews from people engaged in the formation of the politics of digital collective memory in ASG. MeTC provides an adaptable model for how historians and media scholars can turn embarrassment in the face of the SoM-driven explosion of amateur historical storytelling on the web into a source of inspiration and a channel of communication among these two communities of scholars and the public. Drawing on the host’s interdisciplinary capacity and synergies with experts in ASG, MeTC promises to provide a bold academic and social impact in these ways: a) publication in journals, and the delivery of a hybrid workshop and seminars; b) interaction with popular audiences through SoM, a photo exhibition and open public speaking events organised with immigrants from ASG in Sweden. Ultimately, MeTC will enable research on (digital) memory to be a vehicle for interaction between the academy and society through culture and education.