Which prosthetic? Mass media, narrative, empathy, and progressive politics

Article published in «Rethinking History» — 2007 — 11(4) — p.597-612. DOI: 10.1080/13642520701652152While Alison Landsberg's argument for a politically progressive prosthetic memory made possible by modern media and global capital is theoretically provocative and politically appealing, it is ultimately unsustainable. What she describes as memory might better be called a combination of knowledge and empathy. And her account of the prosthetic quality of movies and experiential museums is equally applicable to more traditional verbal texts and, indeed, to symbol use per se. Nevertheless, Landsberg's book (Prosthetic Memory: The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture, Columbia University Press, 2004) presents a valuable new way of thinking about the problem of representing and responding to events one did not experience.