Crossing the Divide

16

Collective Memory and Intergroup Leadership

Israel as a Case Study

Irit Keynan University of Haifa

COLLECTIVE memory is the recollection of what has been experienced in common by a group, a notion separate from the individual memory.¹ It is the past that is shared, passed on, and even constructed by the group, within the intricate relationship between its historical knowledge and present sociopolitical framework. Collective memory is a powerful force that consolidates in-group cohesion, mostly by strengthening ethnic myths and symbols and thus making a clear distinction between the group and others.²

The power of collective memory becomes more accentuated in times of conflict, and the more traumatic the past, the stronger the collective ...