Learning Cities and Public History: Memory as a Collective Good or a Tool of Power?


Abstract:

Starting from the 1970s, the field of historical studies showed an increasing interest in the theme of memory. This interest led, in the first decade of the 21st century, to the emergence of the so-called "Memory Studies," a multidisciplinary field focusing on memory and its making, transforming and transmitting processes. Collective memory is strongly intertwined with the development of the Learning Cities, representing an important tool for community learning - local or national - as through memory it learns both to know and to understand itself. The article highlights this aspect by first outlining the theoretical foundations and then describing a photographic exhibition curated by the author, focusing on Aldo Moro’s sites of memory.