Huwerl Thornton, Jr.
I would like to delve into the area of personal memory. Paul Connerton in his book
How Societies Remember
(1989) believes that there are three distinct classes of memory. He comes to this conclusion by looking at the verb “remember.” He believes that the verb “remember” enters into a variety of grammatical constructions and the things that are remembered are of many different kinds.
1
Connerton believes that the three distinct classes of memory are
personal
memory,
cognitive
memory, and a third class of memory which does not have a particular name, but deals with having the capacity to reproduce a certain performance.
2
Let’s start with personal memory. Connerton believes that they refer to those acts of remembering that take as their object one’s life history. He says that we speak of them as personal memories because they are located in and refer to a personal past. Connerton states that these figure significantly in our self-descriptions because our past history is an important source of our conception of ourselves. Our self-knowledge about our own character and potentialities is to a large extent determined by the way in which we view our own past actions.
3
The second distinct class is cognitive memory. Connerton says that cognitive memory covers uses of “remember” where we may be said to remember the meanings of words, lines of a song, jokes, stories, mathematical equations, or truths of logic.
4
What is interesting about this class of memory is that it requires not that the object of memory be something that is past, but that the person who is remembering the thing must have experienced or learned of it in the past. The third and final class of memory is simply having the capacity to reproduce a certain performance. Connerton says that remembering how to ride a bicycle, or how to type, or how to read and or write is in each case a matter of a person being able to do these things more or less effectively when the need arises to do so.
5
With this third class of memory, people frequently do not recall how or when or where they have acquired the knowledge in question. Most times it is only by the fact of the performance that they are able to recognize and prove to others that they remember. There are some that would argue that the third class of memory is habit-memory but Connerton feels that these scholars have not truly paid attention to this type of memory. He feels that more research could and should be done in this area.
The reason for exploring the area of personal memory is to get a better understanding of the foundation of why people create memorials. Personal memory is the basis for creating personal memorials for the loss of a loved one or to celebrate the deeds and/or actions of a person. My students will be creating memorials for some important people in their lives. They are going to have to rely heavily on all three types of personal memories to accomplish their tasks. Their personal experiences with loved ones in a variety of settings will set the foundation for the creation of their memorials.