Lucy Bond, Stef Craps, and Pieter Vermeulen
Memory Unbound: Tracing the Dynamics of Memory Studies. Ed. Lucy Bond, Stef Craps, and Pieter Vermeulen. New York: Berghahn, 2017. 1-26.
Publication year: 2017

This introductory essay situates the four sections of the book in ongoing discussions on the methods, ethics, and politics of memory studies. Starting from the observation that memory is increasingly being studied as a dynamic process rather than a static product, it identifies the four main dimensions of mnemonic mobility in a globalized and digitalized world: transcultural, transgenerational, transmedial, and transdisciplinary. Underlining that these four dimensions cannot be studied in isolation from each other, it contends that attention to the interrelations between them is indispensable for the study of memory today. The essay shows how all twelve chapters in the book contribute to the project of capturing the dynamics of memory.