Duty of Memory - Changing Language in the Era of Memory, 1970 2010

Within France, the expression "duty of memory" (le devoir de mémoire)speaks to a complex and ever-evolving relationship with the past. Emerging in the 1970s, this term raised questions about memorialization which dominated public debates in the 1990s, highlighting France's entanglements with colonialism and the Holocaust. Drawing on a variety of interviews, archival sources, and data surveys, author Sébastien Ledoux spotlights how the trajectory of this term offers a lens for understanding contemporary societies' relationship with the past on a global scale.

About the author

Sébastien Ledoux is a historian and senior lecturer at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne. His work focuses on the political, social, and cultural aspects of memory in contemporary societies. He is the author of several books: Le devoir de mémoire (CNRS Editions, 2016), La nation en récit (Belin Editeur, 2021), and Histoire et mémoires (CNRS Editions, 2024). In addition to this, he has edited several collected works on a variety of topics, including digital memories, memory laws, teaching, and colonial memories.

Product details

• Authors: Sebastien Ledoux, Sébastien Ledoux
• Publisher: BERGHAHN BOOKS, INC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 01.07.2025
• EAN: 9781836950417
• ISBN: 978-1-83695-041-7
• No. of pages: 288
• Series: Worlds of Memory
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political theories and the history of ideas; History of Ideas, Social Theory, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, Social & cultural history, HISTORY / Historiography, Social and cultural history