939: Researching Memory Work and Identity Work (10092)

Sunday, August 11, 2024

15:00 – 16:30 CT (GMT-5/UTC-5)

Location: Swissotel: Montreux 1

Session Number: 939
Symposium (panel)
Orientation: Research
Shareable link: https://cdmcd.co/mRDmKX

Moderator(s)

CH

Christina Hoon

Bielefeld U., Germany

Panelist(s)

DC

Diego Coraiola

U. of Victoria, Canada

Moderator(s)

AB

Alina McCandless Baluch

U. of St Andrews Business School, United Kingdom

Panelist(s)

WF

William Foster

U. of Alberta, Canada
TI

Trevor Lyle Israelsen

Penn State Smeal College of Business, United States
PJ

Peter Jaskiewicz

Telfer School of Management, U. of Ottawa, Canada
EM

Evelyn Rita Micelotta

Telfer School of Management, U. of Ottawa, Canada
IS

Innan Sasaki

Warwick Business School, United Kingdom

Discussant(s)

HF

Hamid Foroughi

Warwick Business School, United Kingdom

Facilitator(s)

JB

Jana Boevers

Bielefeld U., Germany

Memory work (i.e. ‘how we (re)construct the past’) and identity work (‘who we think we are’) are deeply intertwined with collective remembering shaping and being shaped by the construction of individual and collective identities. This symposium seeks to advance organizational memory studies and explore the linkages of memory work to identity work as both of these forms of social symbolic work are important for understanding how members respond to the multi-faceted, concurrent challenges that organizations face. It aims to develop scholarship by exploring important new directions stemming from: 1) the opportunity to examine how memory work enriches the study of identity work (and vice versa); 2) the opportunity to explore memory work and identity work at different levels of analysis and their effects; and 3) the opportunity to explore the potential value of focusing on temporality for theorizing on memory work and identity work. In this symposium, we want to stimulate discussion about this connection and how scholars can better reimagine the organization from the inside out, i.e. the purposeful reflexive efforts that its members engage in when constructing and negotiating memories and identity, by unlocking a wave of insights from bringing together the study of remembering and being.