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Short abstract:

A presentation and discussion on translating insights on mnemonic imagination in sustainability transitions from a historical inquiry to a transdiciplinary research environment

Long abstract:

In this presentation of an academic paper, ‘mnemonic imagination’ is proposed as a concept that sheds light on the role of (collective) memory in sustainability transitions. Through a panel discussion, the insights coming forward from the historical inquiry of the academic paper will be translated to a transdisciplinary research context.

Mnemonic imagination is a concept that is based on the notion that the imagination of the future and memorization are constituted by the same processes of reconstruction. In their interaction, memory and imagination synthesize past, present and future producing new perceptions of the past and new meanings on a variety of scales. Memory, then, is potentially transformative. Based on memories of the past, human behaviour is transformed in the present because humans consider this transformed behaviour to better prepare them for what they think will happen in the future.

In sustainability transitions literature, socio-technical imagination is considered a social practice that is part of socio-technical transitions. Through the adoption of technologies, transition actors imagine new societal forms that meet their needs in a better way. However, the role of memorization in socio-technical imagination has been rarely accounted for. In this contribution of 45 minutes, the results of the historical research to the role of mnemonic imagination in the energy transition to gas and electricity in the Dutch household are brought forward. A discussion on the translation of the acquired insights to a transdisciplinary research on transitions in the present will be facilitated.