When the "I" becomes "we": From personal to collective memories. Reflections from locals in Greek traditional settlements.

Collective memories usually reflect cognitive aspects of perception, which associate with what someone knows about heritage, while individual memories reflect affective aspects, which relate with feelings and personal memories.

For this reason, participants tend to prioritise collective memories over the individual ones as they may better align with what is ‘appropriate’ or what is legitimately important. This is due to the fact that people believe that it is more rational and robust to claim and evaluate heritage on the basis of its relevance to a wider community, rather than to themselves as individuals. Another key finding was that even personal memories of aspects of heritage share common characteristics among different individuals due to similar experiences. The study overall highlights the dynamics between individual and collective memories in the appreciation of heritage, raising questions on how these can inform conservation 

• BRIHC seminars 2017/18
• Speaker: Ioanna Katapidi (Ironbridge)