Collective memory : microlevel study of family memory and family photographs on the individual and collective level

What types of memories are recalled during a visual revisitation of a photo? How does looking at an image make us stand still, yet simultaneously move across time? What makes a photograph significant to individuals? What meaning does it hold for a group of people? The purpose of this study is to suggest answers to these questions in the context of a qualitative investigation of collective memory at the microlevel. By discussing and visually inspecting one family photo, it can be interpreted by the family in a variety of ways. In this study, a unique dual interview protocol is used to understand what types of family memories are recalled from the individual and the collective. This method was implemented by conducting individual and group photo elicitation interviews within the same family. What sets this study apart from other research on family memory is that it reveals different types of memories that emerge at both levels and shows their disparities, giving insight into how both individual and collective memory of the family functions on the microlevel. Within the context of this research, two memory categories have been discovered: event memories and associative memories. When they appear in both individual and group interviews, they emerge in different ways, and no overlap was found between these two memory types. However, they have one similarity between them: both event memories and associative memories can carry positive or negative emotions. In the confines of this study, emotional memories can differ if recalled by an individual or by a group. Notably, event memories most often embody positive emotions, while associative memories are primarily negative