National Memories: Constructing Identity in Populist Times

This volume brings together distinguished scholars to address broad societal claims about the surge in populist nationalism in the scholarly literature on collective memory. The book sets the stage by examining historical origins and case studies of populism and nationalism in the United States before exploring these phenomena in the global context. Next, the book establishes conceptual frameworks for approaching nationalism and populism in national narratives through the literature on collective memory, political psychology, history, and international studies. The book concludes with a discussion on common themes uncovered over the course of the book. Throughout each section, the book uses empirical evidence and conceptual claims to shed light on the rise in global populist nationalism in a thoughtful, comprehensive manner for scholars of a wide range of backgrounds.

National Memories offers a multidisciplinary, modern approach to an old global societal challenge in a time of great political and social upheaval.

Henry L. Roediger III is a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He studies human learning and memory, both in individual and in groups (collective memory). He is the coauthor of Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Remembering. Roediger is a member
of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

James V. Wertsch is a professor of Sociocultural Anthropology and Global Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Russian Academy of Education, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has published
numerous books at the intersection of language, thought, culture, national memory, and narrative, including How Nations Remember.