Remembrance and communication: Sociohermeneutics of memory rituals

The analysis of memory rituals represents a methodological challenge for an interpretative social science. Ritual interactions are inscribed in a broader context, which is determined by symbolic traditions and the institutional agreements that configure the general framework of ceremonies. The study of rituals held on International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27th is an opportunity to highlight the linkages between these different levels in the analysis. Our data is based on a videographic research project that probes into the thesis of a "global" memory culture, according to which particular memories coexist and at the same time converge and interact with transnational forms of remembrance. For the analysis we follow methodological approaches rooted in the sociology of knowledge and the sociology of communicative genres.