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Forgetting and remembering in the margins: Constructing past and future in the Romanian Danube Delta

Minnesota State Universities - St Cloud State, USA, kvanassche{at}stcloudstate.edu

Patrick Devlieger

University of Leuven, Belgium, Patrick.Devlieger{at}soc.kuleuven.be

Petruta Teampau

Babes-Bolyai University, Romania, mindrut_petruta{at}yahoo.com

Gert Verschraegen

University of Leuven, Belgium, gert.verschraegen{at}soc.kuleuven.be

This article investigates the process of social forgetting by relating it to the disintegration of social and spatial networks. Looking at the case of Sulina, a small town on the eastern edge of the Romanian Danube Delta, we analyze how the unraveling of networks caused a process of social forgetting with margin-specific features, a fundamental restructuring of social memory and social identities. An important focus of our investigation is the connection between social memory and spatial planning, as a coordinated effort to look forwards. While forgetting as such is seen as a positive process, constitutive of memory, its local characteristics can create problems, for example, for cooperation and planning. Theoretically, this article adopts a systems theoretical framework, incorporating notions derived from anthropology and geography. Social memory is defined as a continuous process of selection, carried out in various specialized subsystems. Concepts of social identity and network are found to be essential in a localized analysis of social memory. Concluding, we argue that local characteristics of social memory can impede the articulation of viable spatial planning strategies.

Key Words: social forgetting • social memory • social systems theory • spatial planning

Memory Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, 211-234 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1750698008102053


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