Collective Memory & Organizational Remembering: Reimagining Archives in the South of Morocco

The emergence of memory studies in organizations reflects the recognition of the past’s ability to influence strategic and organizational actions in the present. In this paper, we empirically investigate how ancestral knowledge and practices constitute a strategic and organizational resource to adapt to climate change and its ecological and socioeconomic effects, namely migration and rural exodus. Based on a single case study in the south of Morocco, we show how collective memory, through a restoration strategy supported by ancestral practices and knowledge, enables a community to update its collective goals and how, in turn, emergent mnemonic devices generate organizational forgetting. We try to explain how different stakeholders deploy the past to identify within the organization’s values to implement change strategies, reduce intergenerational conflicts, or constrain the change strategy to protect its glory and legacy. Our data demonstrate how the restoration of collective memory, through the revitalization of ancestral practices, facilitates change paradoxically. Given their inherently non-neutral nature, archives are not merely passive repositories of historical facts. Rather, they are shaped by those in power, reflecting their biases and interests. The decisions about what to preserve and what to omit in archives play a key role in shaping dominant narratives and silencing the marginalized voices. The identification and the renewal of the collective past enable the emergent structures and instances to implement technical projects better accepted by the population. The young reconcile with their past by restoring the collective memory. This action minimizes the intergenerational gap and allows young people to integrate into an authentic environment managed by ancestor customs and traditions. As a result, a rhetorical history has emerged to persuade the traditional organizational structure to forget and to facilitate strategic change. Eventually, it strengthens communities' abilities to deal with climate change's effects, including drought, desertification, and exodus.