Memory Studies: Beyond the Nation State and Cosmopolitan Frameworks

Since the birth of memory studies, the field has experienced three developmental stages: the “foundation” stage of the 1920s, the “memory boom” around the 1980s, and the contemporary cosmopolitan stage. Many theories of the memory boom stage, such as the “invention of tradition” and “les lieux de mémoire” theories, largely follow a “nation-state framework.;” In contrast, theoretical concepts developed in the third stage, such as the notions of “travelling memory” and “cosmopolitan memory,” often move beyond the nation-state framework, following a “cosmopolitan framework.” By comparing these two frameworks, this paper argues that the nation state-cosmopolitanism debate largely confounds the notion of country with the notion of state. As an effort to remedy the confusion, this paper contends that the “state presence” theories, including both the “state as a field” and the “state as an actor” approaches, could better address the confusions in the nation state-cosmopolitanism debate, thus contributing to the further development of the field of memory studies.