This week we discussed collective memory and identity illusions. Within collective memory there is communicative memory and cultural memory. Communicative memory refers to everyday life discussions, social conventions, and everyday language i.e. slang. Communicative memory also takes place over 3 generations or 80 years. Communicative memory transitions to cultural memory which includes: traditions being formed, monuments being built, literature and art, religion, and fixed points in history. Identity illusions refers to the idea that one person can have multiple identities; for example,  I am a middle class, African American/Black woman in college. In that statement I identified myself as someone in the middle class, I identified with my culture and race, as well as my highest level of education . Thus, as one person I have stated that I have four identity illusions. I chose to focus on these specific topics because I believe that they affect one another. People identify themselves with a particular race because of the color of their skin, but they have an emotional connection to their cultural memory as a whole race. For example, I identified myself as an African American woman or black woman. As a whole race, African Americans connect through their knowledge of the slave trade as well as the civil rights movement, and currently the The Black Lives Matter campaign. Although race plays a key role in our identity it is not the only factor for identifying as one race or another. I believe the same concept can be applied to other races and ethnicities. I believe Panamanians can have a lighter tone or darker tone, but I believe their identity is also connected to their collective memory as well as the French, Mexicans, Indians, and other ethnicities around the world.

We also discussed the floating gap between oral cultures and literate cultures. The floating gap is 80 years. Oral cultures focus on the recent past, remote past and the very remote past. The stories of important events and people in oral cultures are passed on through myths, legends, and traditions. Literate cultures have a living memory of the very remote past. They tell history through textbooks and monuments. The growing concern for events or people of the past is the question of what point in time does someone or an event become a myth or a legend. I believe someone or an event of the past becomes a myth or a legend when there is no physical evidence that an event actually occurred or someone actually existed and the event or person has been past on over centuries with no evidence to back up the story of that person or event. This brings me to the question of the difference between a myth and a legend. From my understanding a legend is based on real historical people on events, but they were exaggerated or made to be larger than life. Myths are events or people that were never based on any fact at all.