James Wertsch | Washington University in St. Louis (original) (raw)
Papers by James Wertsch
Aarhus University Press eBooks, May 22, 2014
National Memories
The re-emergence of populist nationalism in the 21st century calls for a deeper understanding of ... more The re-emergence of populist nationalism in the 21st century calls for a deeper understanding of how narratives shape mental and cultural life. Approaching narratives as “equipment for living,” this chapter addresses the issue of “narrative truth” as it applies to “specific narratives,” “narrative templates,” and “privileged event narratives.” Differences over this sort of truth can give rise to stark differences in understanding past and present events and even lead to conflict between national communities. An analysis of how the United States and China engaged in a struggle to control the narrative of the COVID-19 pandemic is used to illustrate these claims, and the chapter concludes with proposals for how conflict over such matters might be managed.
Eurasian Geography and Economics
How Nations Remember
The chapter begins with a section on methods and forms of evidence that outlines the difference b... more The chapter begins with a section on methods and forms of evidence that outlines the difference between top-down and bottom-up analyses of national memory and notes that the latter will be given more emphasis in this book than is the case in many studies of national identity and memory. The section also argues that by understanding how narrative tools can “co-author” individuals’ speaking and thinking, it is possible to avoid misguided notions of “primordialism” that are part of the rhetorical claims of nationalists. The next section examines the sense in which national memory is memory and argues for the need to focus on remembering individuals as members of groups. This involves a review of ideas from figures such as Maurice Halbwachs and Frederic Bartlett on collective and individual memory. This is followed by a section on “Flashbulb Memories as Memory in the Group,” which uses a body of literature in psychology to develop a conceptually grounded notion of national memory that i...
Oxford Scholarship Online
Studies of collective memory address how people create and maintain a shared representation of th... more Studies of collective memory address how people create and maintain a shared representation of their group’s past and group identity. In particular, we conside how knowledge representations and schematic narrative templates (recurring stories of the past) contribute to collective remembering. Diverging memories between groups can cause conflict, so examining how different group’s varying memories of “the same event” can cause misunderstandings is critical. We consider whether (and how) groups can mediate their differences to attempt to reach consensus about the past, using narratives of World War II as a case study. The study of collective memory comprises many different senses of the term remembering, and this chapter emphasizes the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration to examine the issues from multiple perspectives.
How Nations Remember draws on multiple disciplines in the humanities and social sciences to exami... more How Nations Remember draws on multiple disciplines in the humanities and social sciences to examine how a nation’s account of the past shapes its actions in the present. National memory can underwrite noble aspirations, but the volume focuses largely on how it contributes to the negative tendencies of nationalism that give rise to confrontation. Narratives are taken as units of analysis for examining the psychological and cultural dimensions of remembering particular events and also for understanding the schematic codes and mental habits that underlie national memory more generally. In this account, narratives are approached as tools that shape the views of members of national communities to such an extent that they serve as co-authors of what people say and think. Drawing on illustrations from Russia, China, Georgia, the United States, and elsewhere, the book examines how “narrative templates,” “narrative dialogism,” and “privileged event narratives” shape nations’ views of themsel...
International Review of History Education, 2013
The Russian Revolution: Official and Unofficial Accounts JAMES V. WERTSCH and MARK ROZIN When try... more The Russian Revolution: Official and Unofficial Accounts JAMES V. WERTSCH and MARK ROZIN When trying to understand how and why moder n nation-states teach history, the Soviet Union provides one of our century's most fascinating illustrations. From its inception there was ...
Historical Representation as Mediated Action: Official History as a Tool WILLIAM R. PENUEL and JA... more Historical Representation as Mediated Action: Official History as a Tool WILLIAM R. PENUEL and JAMES V. WERTSCH The practical requirements which underlie every historical judgment give to all history the character of contemporary history because, however remote in time ...
A Companion to Cognitive Science, 2017
Historical Expertise, 2019
A century of developmental psychology.
Historical Representation, 1994
We argue that in order to understand how and why history is taught and learned, it is necessary t... more We argue that in order to understand how and why history is taught and learned, it is necessary to distinguish between "official" and "unofficial" history. Using this distinction, we examine differing historical representations of events in 1940 that resulted in Estonia's becoming part of the Soviet Union. Results from interviews with six ethnic Estonians are reported in an attempt to examine the differences between their understanding of the official and unofficial histories of the 1940 events. A basic distinction emerged between the official Soviet history, with its relatively coherent narrative line, and the unofficial history, which seems to consist of a set of unorganized anecdotal stories. We suggest that the unofficial historical representation can be understood as a set of counterclaims to the basic claims included in official history and that the unofficial history is generated through a kind of "hidden dialogicality" with the official one....
Constructing Identity in and around Organizations, 2012
Memory and Political Change
Voices of Collective Remembering, 2002
Perspectives on socially shared cognition.
... Login to save citations to My List. Citation. Database: PsycBOOKS. [Chapter]. A sociocultural... more ... Login to save citations to My List. Citation. Database: PsycBOOKS. [Chapter]. A sociocultural approach to socially shared cognition. Wertsch, James V. Resnick, Lauren B. (Ed); Levine, John M. (Ed); Teasley, Stephanie D. (Ed). (1991). Perspectives on socially shared cognition. ...
Sociocultural Studies of Mind
The need for action in sociocultural research James V. Wertsch The goal of sociocultural research... more The need for action in sociocultural research James V. Wertsch The goal of sociocultural research is to understand the relationship between human mental functioning, on the one hand, and cultural, historical, and institutional setting, on the other. In a world character- ized by ...
Aarhus University Press eBooks, May 22, 2014
National Memories
The re-emergence of populist nationalism in the 21st century calls for a deeper understanding of ... more The re-emergence of populist nationalism in the 21st century calls for a deeper understanding of how narratives shape mental and cultural life. Approaching narratives as “equipment for living,” this chapter addresses the issue of “narrative truth” as it applies to “specific narratives,” “narrative templates,” and “privileged event narratives.” Differences over this sort of truth can give rise to stark differences in understanding past and present events and even lead to conflict between national communities. An analysis of how the United States and China engaged in a struggle to control the narrative of the COVID-19 pandemic is used to illustrate these claims, and the chapter concludes with proposals for how conflict over such matters might be managed.
Eurasian Geography and Economics
How Nations Remember
The chapter begins with a section on methods and forms of evidence that outlines the difference b... more The chapter begins with a section on methods and forms of evidence that outlines the difference between top-down and bottom-up analyses of national memory and notes that the latter will be given more emphasis in this book than is the case in many studies of national identity and memory. The section also argues that by understanding how narrative tools can “co-author” individuals’ speaking and thinking, it is possible to avoid misguided notions of “primordialism” that are part of the rhetorical claims of nationalists. The next section examines the sense in which national memory is memory and argues for the need to focus on remembering individuals as members of groups. This involves a review of ideas from figures such as Maurice Halbwachs and Frederic Bartlett on collective and individual memory. This is followed by a section on “Flashbulb Memories as Memory in the Group,” which uses a body of literature in psychology to develop a conceptually grounded notion of national memory that i...
Oxford Scholarship Online
Studies of collective memory address how people create and maintain a shared representation of th... more Studies of collective memory address how people create and maintain a shared representation of their group’s past and group identity. In particular, we conside how knowledge representations and schematic narrative templates (recurring stories of the past) contribute to collective remembering. Diverging memories between groups can cause conflict, so examining how different group’s varying memories of “the same event” can cause misunderstandings is critical. We consider whether (and how) groups can mediate their differences to attempt to reach consensus about the past, using narratives of World War II as a case study. The study of collective memory comprises many different senses of the term remembering, and this chapter emphasizes the benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration to examine the issues from multiple perspectives.
How Nations Remember draws on multiple disciplines in the humanities and social sciences to exami... more How Nations Remember draws on multiple disciplines in the humanities and social sciences to examine how a nation’s account of the past shapes its actions in the present. National memory can underwrite noble aspirations, but the volume focuses largely on how it contributes to the negative tendencies of nationalism that give rise to confrontation. Narratives are taken as units of analysis for examining the psychological and cultural dimensions of remembering particular events and also for understanding the schematic codes and mental habits that underlie national memory more generally. In this account, narratives are approached as tools that shape the views of members of national communities to such an extent that they serve as co-authors of what people say and think. Drawing on illustrations from Russia, China, Georgia, the United States, and elsewhere, the book examines how “narrative templates,” “narrative dialogism,” and “privileged event narratives” shape nations’ views of themsel...
International Review of History Education, 2013
The Russian Revolution: Official and Unofficial Accounts JAMES V. WERTSCH and MARK ROZIN When try... more The Russian Revolution: Official and Unofficial Accounts JAMES V. WERTSCH and MARK ROZIN When trying to understand how and why moder n nation-states teach history, the Soviet Union provides one of our century's most fascinating illustrations. From its inception there was ...
Historical Representation as Mediated Action: Official History as a Tool WILLIAM R. PENUEL and JA... more Historical Representation as Mediated Action: Official History as a Tool WILLIAM R. PENUEL and JAMES V. WERTSCH The practical requirements which underlie every historical judgment give to all history the character of contemporary history because, however remote in time ...
A Companion to Cognitive Science, 2017
Historical Expertise, 2019
A century of developmental psychology.
Historical Representation, 1994
We argue that in order to understand how and why history is taught and learned, it is necessary t... more We argue that in order to understand how and why history is taught and learned, it is necessary to distinguish between "official" and "unofficial" history. Using this distinction, we examine differing historical representations of events in 1940 that resulted in Estonia's becoming part of the Soviet Union. Results from interviews with six ethnic Estonians are reported in an attempt to examine the differences between their understanding of the official and unofficial histories of the 1940 events. A basic distinction emerged between the official Soviet history, with its relatively coherent narrative line, and the unofficial history, which seems to consist of a set of unorganized anecdotal stories. We suggest that the unofficial historical representation can be understood as a set of counterclaims to the basic claims included in official history and that the unofficial history is generated through a kind of "hidden dialogicality" with the official one....
Constructing Identity in and around Organizations, 2012
Memory and Political Change
Voices of Collective Remembering, 2002
Perspectives on socially shared cognition.
... Login to save citations to My List. Citation. Database: PsycBOOKS. [Chapter]. A sociocultural... more ... Login to save citations to My List. Citation. Database: PsycBOOKS. [Chapter]. A sociocultural approach to socially shared cognition. Wertsch, James V. Resnick, Lauren B. (Ed); Levine, John M. (Ed); Teasley, Stephanie D. (Ed). (1991). Perspectives on socially shared cognition. ...
Sociocultural Studies of Mind
The need for action in sociocultural research James V. Wertsch The goal of sociocultural research... more The need for action in sociocultural research James V. Wertsch The goal of sociocultural research is to understand the relationship between human mental functioning, on the one hand, and cultural, historical, and institutional setting, on the other. In a world character- ized by ...