Visions of transnational memory

The paper is a short introduction to the “global turn” in memory studies and to transnational memory in particular. Both culturalist and normative positions are presented. After the conceptual overview, there follows an analysis of two films, Auf der anderen Seite (2007) and Caché (2005), with special focus on the two notions “translocal” and “inclusive distinction”, and on the theme of an ethics and morality of memory. This is in order to explicate the usefulness and importance of the notion of transnational memory. Finally, the concluding remark is made that research into transnational memory is significant due to its recognising of small-scale trajectories and memory practices beyond the framework of the nation, and because of the subtle dialectics between an ethics and morality of memory—thus leading to a persistent “transnational monitoring” of the national as well.