Vol. 5 No. 1 (2023): The PASCHR Journal

The relevance of the 8th PASCHR National Conference with the theme “Collective Memory: Explorations in Culture, History and Religion”, organized by the Philippine Association for the Study of Culture, History and Religion (PASCHR) and the Philippine Association for the Sociology of Religion (PASR, hosted by the Guimaras State University (GSU) last October 20-22, 2022 is of such magnitude, taken in the context of the disturbing cacophony of the Post Truth Era that exacerbated the world wide scourge of Covid 19.

“We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a conference on the COVID-19 outbreak, who lamented: “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic. Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous” (WHO, 2020).

This “infodemic” it seems, is inevitable as in recent years, the so-called “post-truth” phenomena—including massive spread and acceptance of misinformation, denial of scientific claims, and more—have been a focus of growing public discussion and concern (McIntyre, 2018; Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.; Prado, 2018).

While social media has paved the way for the democratization of news, it has also facilitated the proliferation of fake content: Facebook, You Tube, are notorious fertile platforms of stories with no factual basis. It is uncanny that the British dystopian novelist George Orwell predicted this phenomenon of Post Truth in the first half of the 20th century when he said: “In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act”.

One anti-dote to the malaise of the Post Truth Era is the resurgence in academic circles of Memory Studies. One sphere of this crucial field is Collective memory—a community’s shared renderings of the past that help shape its collective identity (Halbwachs, 1950). From this perspective, they are the collective variant of autobiographical memories, which are individually held memories that help shape personal identity.

The English phrase “collective memory” and the equivalent French phrase “la mémoire collective” appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century. The philosopher and sociologist Maurice Halbwachs analyzed and advanced the concept of the collective memory in the book Les cadres sociaux de la mémoire (1925). According to Halbwachs, Collective Memory can be constructed, shared, and passed on by large and small social groups. Examples of these groups can include nations, generations, communities, among others. Collective memory has been a topic of interest and research across a number of disciplines, including psychology, sociology, history, philosophy, and anthropology.

The 8thPASCHR conference aimed: 1) to narrate the significant events and rituals of barangays, communities, towns, and cities that bind them together or promote group identity; 2) to depict the monuments, memorials, and symbols that are meaningful and historical, leading the people to appreciate, respect, and love their domicile or place of origin; and 3) to celebrate the significant events that will enhance their appreciation, gratitude, and love for their communities, barangays, towns, cities, provinces and regions.

Current researches on collective memory have taken the direction of comparing how different social groups form their own representations of history and how such collective memories can impact ideals, values, behaviors and vice versa. Scholars agree that developing social identity and evaluating the past in order to prevent old patterns of conflict and errors are the desired functions of Collective Memory as social representations of history.