Since 2010, the public memory of the working class has become more conflicted. The notion that ‘they’ are reactionary bigots has been strengthened by the result of the Brexit referendum of 2016. Most journalists overlook that many affluent residents of southern, rural England, voted to leave the European Union. They focus their ire on the deindustrialised areas of northern England – constituencies which also helped give Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party a landslide win in the 2019 General Election.
The work of memory is a process. The conclusions of comparative examples and theoretical cases help us – or should help us – to learn from history and its memorial transmission and apply new formulas that draw on more and better engagement from our fellow citizens. This is the engagement that guides our actions, research and efforts to mobilize professional academic processes in and with society in order to build collective memory. The challenge is to hold onto the tension between the varying scales and dimensions of such a process or processes. And this is precisely what we want to share in the present issue of Observing Memories. The aim of our journal is to reflect, learn and share knowledge, but always with a multifaceted engagement from all quarters.
