meenutamised

Meenutamised is a neologism used in memory studies and cultural discourse to denote the practice of eliciting and preserving memories through deliberate reminders or cues. The term does not refer to a single established theory but is used to describe a family of related activities, from personal memory-keeping to museological or curatorial strategies that trigger recollection in audiences.

Etymology and usage: The word appears to derive from the root meenut- found in Estonian meenutama, meaning to remind, with the English -ised suffix forming a nominal or adjectival coinage. There is no formal consensus on its origin or precise scope, and its use is largely confined to informal discussions, blogs, and small scholarly texts rather than mainstream psychology or memory studies.

Definition and scope: In practice, meenutamised encompasses mechanisms such as the collection of reminder artifacts (photographs, letters, keepsakes), the design of cue-rich narratives, and digital prompts that encourage recall. It can function as a personal memory practice, a therapeutic approach (memory cueing), or a museological technique for presenting past lives and events to visitors. Critics caution that reminder-based practices risk biasing memory or nostalgic distortion.

See also: Reminiscence, memory cueing, mnemonics, curatorial memory, collective memory.