Collective memory and genetic social psychology: A necessary rediscovery in times of polycrisis

Contemporary research on collective memory recognises the past's dynamic role in present conflicts and future possibilities. Yet, in our polycrisis era marked by resurgent authoritarianism and rising individualism, resulting in democratic backsliding and withdrawal from political participation correspondingly around the world, most current work on collective memory remains descriptive, treating groups as homogeneous units while leaving developmental mechanisms of memory transformation untheorized. This article advances Genetic Social Psychology (GSP) as an interdisciplinary framework that addresses these gaps by examining how collective memory as social representations gets transformed through three types of social relationships: domination, submission, and co-operation. These relationship qualities shape not only what groups remember but also how memories transform (change) or not (continuity) across three timescales: microgenesis (through short social interaction or dialogue incidents), ontogenesis (lifespan), and sociogenesis (historical time). Drawing on foundational texts (Piaget, Bartlett, and Moscovici), and more recent work by Gerard Duveen, we propose that revealing heterogeneity within each of the antagonistic groups in their representations of history and transformation of various positions in the representational field through intergroup contact and history teaching is key. Applied to divided Cyprus, this framework offers policy proposals towards conflict transformation and deepening democratic culture, resisting rising authoritarianism and domination/submission memory politics.