Reflections and Comments on Research on Memory and Conversation From an Ethnographic Perspective

Reflecting on three papers included in this issue, we suggest that research on memory and conversation could benefit by making more use of analyzing real‐life situations or close to real‐life scenarios, full speech and body interactions, and the interaction with the physical environment. We also suggest that the process of remembering during conversation is investigated on a level of detail and sequence that allow for locating actual functions of different actions. Finally, we suggest that a life‐span perspective on transactive memory systems must also model the development, maintenance, breakdown, and reestablishment of such systems. Dahlbäck, Forsblad and Hydén argue that conversational remembering in the real‐world must be acknowledged as an interactional practice grounded in and bound to the communicative actions produced by the interlocutors. They illustrate the complexity of those processes by referring to their own fieldwork examining older adults’ prospective memory within their homes (Dahlbäck, Kristiansson, & Stjernberg, 2013) and propose alternative methodologies (e.g., scenarios design) to increase collaborations between ethnographic and experimental memory researchers.