the concept of the collective narrative

I think the collective narrative is different to the individual narrative. Often family albums are taken out and looked at during family occasions or when there are guests visiting the house. To me it seems like a way of recounting their ties, their history and their identity. In more primitive structures where history could not be recorded, different tribal groupings would repeat their historical lineage orally as a way of remembering their history and reaffirming their identity. If one tribe eventually ceased to be, they would simply not be recounted in the telling of the tribe’s history! So it seems that the family album is about reaffirming identity and ties with one another.