Sharing memory and identity across generations: an interdisciplinary memory conversation and oral history project

This research note presents findings from a pilot research project undertaken by an Australian team of historians, educational psychologists and cognitive scientists, examining how memories were shared between a small group of non-familial older adults and adolescents across 8 weeks in late 2022. Using insights from intergenerational memory conversations and oral history, we analyse pre- and post-intervention survey data and demonstrate the promising outcomes of our team’s interdisciplinarity. We argue that the collected data reflect the gendered construction of stories about the self and generational differences in articulating subjectivity and stories about family. It also demonstrates how adolescents used the life stories of their conversational partners to texture their understandings of life in the past. Accordingly, this research note argues for the social and cultural benefits of engaging in inter-generational memory conversations for young and older participants, suggesting the potential of expanding the project to other schools and older adults producing healthier and happier adults and teenagers.