131-456 Memory and Memories

Credit Points

Coordinator

Semester

Contact

Subject Description

This subject will address a range of issues, questions and debates regarding the construction of memory. What is the relationship between memory and history? What is the relationship between individual and social memory? How do we understand and interrogate the sites of memory, and the practice of remembering and forgetting? The course is divided into two parts. The first is a consideration of the theoretical dimensions which inform these issues. We consider gendered memories, collective and social memories, individual memories and psychoanalysis, and reading oral histories. In the second half of the subject we consider the case study of war, as a way to contextualise the interplay between history and memory. In particular, we consider gender and war memories; post war German memories; the Holocaust and survivor memories; Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal memories of war and violence; and reading war memorials and monuments.

Assessment

Assessment will be based on a 2500 word essay (part of which needs to be presented in class) (50%); a journal (40%); and contributions to and preparation for the seminars (10%).