Citation

Verberg N, Davis CG. Can. Rev. Sociol. 2011; 48(1): 23-45.

Affiliation

Department of Sociology, St. Francis Xavier University, PO Box 5000, Antigonish, NS, Canada B2G 2E8. nverberg@stfx.ca

Copyright

(Copyright © 2011, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

21595369

Abstract

Narratives are critical to how people understand themselves and the significant events of their lives. Drawing upon social memory theory and the social constructionist approach to social problems, this study provides a narrative analysis of the counter-memory activism of the Westray Families Group (WFG), which formed after 26 men died in the 1992 Westray mine explosion (Plymouth, NS). Against alternative explanations promoted by more powerful stakeholders, the WFG adopted and weaved a corporate negligence narrative into their commemorative activism. This study illustrates how a small families group can draw reflexively upon and reshape cultural scripts to narrate how others should remember and respond to key events.

Language: en