| Abstract | Collective memory studies are now prominent in cultural sociology, but the emphasis on structural analyses has led to an absence of conceptual and empirical insight into the process of collective memory production. Through a symbolic interactionist approach, I propose that actors produce collective memory at the meso-level of the family at the same time that they use collective narratives as cultural scripts to structure and give purpose to their family memories. I analyze twenty in-depth interviews with children of Holocaust survivors I conducted in 2008, and find that the relationship between family memory and collective memory in this case is dialectical. While collective stories certainly shape memory, family memoryâa type of memory many scholars overlookâoperates as an influential lens through which individuals relate to popular narratives and negotiate their diffuse meanings. As secondary witnesses, children of Holocaust survivors can help illuminate collective memory processes because their understandings about the Holocaust are always mediated by their parents, family, and community networks, and by the cultural products they consume. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript
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