COLLECTIVE MEMORY AS A FORM OF RESISTANCE TO META - NARRATIVE

Abstract

There is a gap between the past and the present which is filling with memory entwined with collective memory. Memory does not only exist for an individual, but also a collection of memories representing a mere reflection of the collective domain. Memory is subjective so it has to be separated from history in Pierre Nora’s perception. Memory rests in a constant flux; it is combined with meanings and symbols attached one specific memory. Today’s world is lived by the past experience with the embodiment of past events and every social order creates a latent collective and social memory. Social memory is not a reconstruction of history; it is rather a construction of a society’s culture with symbolic representations. Meta- narrative developed by Lyotard's terms meaning to give a totalizing, comprehensive account to various historical events, experiences, and social, cultural phenomena based upon the appeal to universal truth or universal values. Metanarrative tries to explain various events in history, gives meaning by connecting disorderly events to some kind of universal knowledge. The term meta - narrative can be applied to range of thoughts including Marxism, religious doctrines, universal reason, etc. During the history of Turkish Republic, there have been unresolved political assassinations targeting journalists, academicians, authors, and poets. After each political assassination, there organized a commemorative ceremony which expresses moral continuity with the past. It is a transmission of memories of that person for a narrative. Each ceremony is organized by using cultural symbols attached to that assassination; they can be a protest or prize giving ceremony or just a gathering in the graveyard for remembrance. Although diverse in their nature, these ceremonies reflect themselves as a rejection of Lyotard’s conception of meta-narrative of the society since they replaced it with their local narrative. In this article, we’ll try to analyze the commemorative ceremonies of unresolved political assassinations which create a “present past” in Terdiman’s phrases. TYPOMORPHOSIS: FROM AN OX HEAD TO THE