Intense Paradoxes of Memory: Researching Moral Questions About Remembering the Socialist Past Export

@article{citeulike:4375380, abstract = {In 2007 two researchers embarked upon a project on the “social construction of the socialist past in eastern Germany”. The project sought to explore how the socialist past is remembered today, and the moral ambiguities condensed in memories. This is particularly relevant in eastern Germany, where debates about how to interpret the socialist past continue to strive. However, it soon became apparent that doing such an ethnographic project is no easy task. Both researchers became sucked into the debates they sought to explore, including the question of who people had been during GDR (German Democratic Republic, former East Germany) times and whether this mattered. Using the ethnographic self as a resource, this article explores the ethics of complicity or detachment in fieldwork situations where the researcher was invited to make judgements. It argues that ethnographers need to address the question of value-judgements openly in their fieldwork, since they form an intrinsic part of all our humanity.}, author = {Gallinat, Anselma}, citeulike-article-id = {4375380}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02757200902885950}, comment = {got}, doi = {10.1080/02757200902885950}, journal = {History and Anthropology}, keywords = {documentary, got, history, modernity, politics}, number = {2}, pages = {183--199}, posted-at = {2009-04-22 14:24:25}, priority = {2}, publisher = {Routledge}, title = {Intense Paradoxes of Memory: Researching Moral Questions About Remembering the Socialist Past}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02757200902885950}, volume = {20}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:4375380 L3 - citeulike-article-id:4375380 N2 - In 2007 two researchers embarked upon a project on the “social construction of the socialist past in eastern Germany”. The project sought to explore how the socialist past is remembered today, and the moral ambiguities condensed in memories. This is particularly relevant in eastern Germany, where debates about how to interpret the socialist past continue to strive. However, it soon became apparent that doing such an ethnographic project is no easy task. Both researchers became sucked into the debates they sought to explore, including the question of who people had been during GDR (German Democratic Republic, former East Germany) times and whether this mattered. Using the ethnographic self as a resource, this article explores the ethics of complicity or detachment in fieldwork situations where the researcher was invited to make judgements. It argues that ethnographers need to address the question of value-judgements openly in their fieldwork, since they form an intrinsic part of all our humanity. IS - 2 JF - History and Anthropology EP - 199 TI - Intense Paradoxes of Memory: Researching Moral Questions About Remembering the Socialist Past PB - Routledge VL - 20 SP - 183 KW - documentary KW - got KW - history KW - modernity KW - politics N1 - got AU - Gallinat, Anselma PY - 2009/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02757200902885950 ER -