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generational memory, but identity and consciousness do. beeause they rest
on the linkage ofthe individual's lire history and family history with
specific historical moments. 272
Ilareven anal)'zcs the recent use oforal history for the purpose of firing a
collectiYC historical consciousness lhrough the discovery ofa common past. 27J In this
case. the common past (i.e.. participating in the Labrador fishery) fired collective
consciousness ofhow livcs were intert\\;ned historically through participating in the
fishery. The generational memory could stretch back 0\er 130 ) ears in some cases.
Such an expansive generational memory rna)' be due to continuity ofoccupation
in fishing families and the socialization im·olved. Or"ar Lofgren listed the stages through
\\hich the Swedish boys drifted into the occupational role of fishermen from helping their
parents at an early age to prepare equipment, to young bo)'s messing around in boats and
listening for hours to the small talk that nowed between fishcnnen in their free time. 174
This paltcm of maritime socialization based upon observation and imitation over long
periods of time rather than actual instruction and formal teaching was as typical in
Newfollndland and Labrador as in European fishing communities. I'cre also, play was
strongly integrated in the leaming ofm3ritime skills as children jigged fish olTlhe wharf
and learned to row the boats in shallow waters close to the shore. While it is true thm
some aspects of technology in the fishery have changcd, many ofthc tcchniqlles orthe
272 Tamara lIarevcn, "The Search for Generational Memory:' in Ora/ I/istory: An
lmerdisciplinory Amh%g}'. ed. David K. Dunaway and Willa K. Baum (Nashville. TN:
American Association for State and Local History. 1984). p. 249.
:m Ilarcvcn. p. 253.
2:74 Lofgren. p. 284.
168