Guided Forgetting: Four Types of Amnesogenic Practices

The aim of the article is to condense the empirical variety of forms of intentional forgetting to a limited number of qualitatively specific types of interaction with evocative (memory evoking) objects. First, an analysis of the positive functions of selective reversible forgetting at the individual and collective levels is carried out. Then methodological contradictions in the interpretation of the relationship between the constructs of collective and individual memory are discussed. To solve these contradictions, it is proposed to consider collective memory as primary in relation to individual memory. At the same time, collective memory is understood as a multirole activity mediated by evocative objects and aimed at achieving a positive group identity. The article proposes a new theoretical framework for interpreting the processes of collective and individual intentional forgetting, which includes four types of active interaction with evocative objects: ignoring, destruction, functional replacement and creation of hyperstimulating evocative environments. Ignoring practices leave the evocative object intact. They are carried out in the form of physical distancing, exclusion of unwanted memories from communication, and masking the evocative aspects of the object. The destructive practices imply the physical destruction of external conditions that provoke actualization of the mnemotic trace of the event. The mechanism of functional replacement consists in interfering with the evocative content of the object either through its alternative use, or by creating an alternative object with similar functionality. The practices of creating hyperstimulating evocative objects are aimed at controlling and localizing intense mnemonic reactions in socially sanctioned contexts. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

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