From primordial memory to ethnic memory: an ethno-symbolic analysis of memory in the thought of Dariush Shayegan and Anthony D. Smith

This article compares Anthony D. Smith’s concept of ‘ethnic memory’ with Dariush Shayegan’s notion of ‘primordial memory’. While Smith situates memory within the formation and reproduction of ethnic and national communities, Shayegan develops it within a broader philosophical and civilizational critique of modernity. The article argues that the two concepts are neither identical nor unrelated. Shayegan’s primordial memory is not a theory of nationalism or national memory, but a deeper cultural and civilizational reservoir from which national identities may selectively draw. Their relationship is therefore mediated, showing how inherited civilizational memories can be transformed into narratives of national continuity.