Souvenirs to Forget
研究了纽约人在9/11事件后如何通过纪念品进行记忆工作，发现纪念品不仅能帮助记忆，还能在遗忘过程中发挥关键作用，挑战了传统对纪念品功能的认知。
Abstract In consumer research, the relationship between memory work and forgetting remains largely unexplored, and the “forgetful” role that souvenirs can play in remembering is misunderstood, even denigrated. The present study explores the connections between memory work, forgetting, and material culture. Drawing on contemporary material culture studies, it offers a reflection on the memory practices of New Yorkers in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Based on ethnographic research conducted in New York City, it provides evidence that remembering and forgetting can coexist and interconnect in complex ways. Uncovering the mechanics of forgetting in memory practices with souvenirs, it takes the research on memory and material culture beyond the semiotic analysis of signs and symbols, and shows that souvenirs can play a fundamental role in the process of obliterating and/or compartmentalizing aspects of past experiences. Although it may be true that New Yorkers—especially those who personally experienced 9/11—have no need of souvenirs to remember, many of them have memory practices that involve using souvenirs to forget.