Small Grant for Exploratory Research: Collective Forgetting of Historical Violence

这SGER提案调查集体遗忘的机制，在美国众议院外交关系委员会（FRC）决议确定奥斯曼帝国杀害亚美尼亚人（1915-1917）的“种族灭绝”案件之后。该提案的理论背景是一个更大的研究计划，将文化心理学的视角应用于记忆和身份的研究。 由于人们对几百年前的事件没有直接的记忆，他们必然通过历史的社会表征来构建集体认同感。然而，对历史的普遍表述并不是对客观记录的事件的公正反映，而是对过去的庆祝性建构，促进对集体罪行的遗忘。在研究的第一阶段，研究小组将前往土耳其，调查参与者对土耳其身份的体验，政策相关态度以及对与FRC决议有关的历史事件的理解。特别令人感兴趣的是国家身份、使用解释性否认机制（例如，委婉的命名）和民族主义政策的支持。 第二阶段将比较集体遗忘作为身份相关性和暴力表现的函数。 最后一个阶段是在土耳其进行的后续研究，以探索集体遗忘如何随着时间的推移而运作。 这项工作有助于社会，认知和文化的理解记忆作为一个动态的集体建设。

This SGER proposal investigates mechanisms of collective forgetting in the aftermath of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee (FRC) resolution to identify Ottoman killing of Armenians (1915-1917) a case of "genocide". The theoretical context for the proposal is a larger program of research that applies a cultural psychology perspective to the study of memory and identity. Because people do not have direct memory of centuries-old events, they necessarily construct a sense of collective identity via social representations of history. However, prevailing representations of history are not unbiased reflections of objectively recorded events, but instead constitute celebratory constructions of the past that promote forgetting of collective misdeeds.In the first phase of the study, the research team will travel to Turkey to survey participants regarding experience of Turkish identity, policy-relevant attitudes, and understanding of historical events pertaining to the FRC resolution. Of particular interest will be the relationship between national identification, use of interpretative denial mechanisms (e.g., euphemistic naming) and endorsement of nationalistic policy. The second phase will compare collective forgetting as a function of identity relevance and representation of violence. The final phase involves a follow-up study in Turkey to explore how collective forgetting operates over time. This work contributes to the social, cognitive, and cultural understanding of memory as a dynamic collective construction.