Pierre Nora

Pierre Nora is a French historian known for his work on collective memory, which refers to how groups remember their past. He argues that memory is shaped by shared experiences and cultural narratives, influencing identity and social cohesion. Nora differentiates between "memory," which is living and personal, and "history," which is more academic and objective. His concept of "lieux de mémoire," or "sites of memory," highlights places or symbols that hold collective significance for a society, helping to understand how memories are constructed, preserved, and transmitted across generations in the context of social and cultural history.