From Individual to Collective Memory: South Korea’s Gwangju Uprising

Using the Gwangju Uprising as a case study, this thesis investigates how individually held memories coalesce into collectively held memories.In doing so, I formulate a taxonomy of the various forces that cause some narratives to become privileged over others.Memory studies scholarship largely neglects to differentiate between the terms "dominant narrative" and "collective memory."It also lacks a holistic analysis of the distinct, competing forces that cause narratives to ascend to become dominant narratives and collective memories, as scholars typically consider only one of these forces at a time.However, I explore this process in detail, tracing the progression from memories, to narratives, to dominant narrative, and, ultimately, to collective memory.In doing so, I define dominant narrative as a representation of an event set forth by a certain group that is more popular than existing counternarratives.Collective memory, on the other hand, is a narrative that has surpassed the dominant narrative in that it has obtained societal consensus-in other words, faces very little contestation-and is institutionalized through various modes of remembrance.I frame the development of these concepts by introducing my posited "channels"-legal, cultural, civil, and political-and analyzing their interactions.I illustrate the existence of a competition between the channels in determining which narratives becomes dominant.Through a historical analysis study of South Korea's Gwangju Uprising and its aftermath, I seek to understand this process, comparing primary and secondary sources, including testimonies, legislation, and newspaper articles.