131-019 Varieties of History: Memory and History

Formerly available as 131-201/301. Students who have completed 131-201 or 131-301 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.

Usually 25 points of first-year history, see Prerequisites.

This subject addresses a range of issues, questions and debates exploring the relationship between history and memory. What is the nature of this relationship? Is there a difference between memories of the past and the past itself? How do individual and collective memories intersect? What do the sites of memory tell us about how events are remembered and which are forgotten? How does memory 'become' history? Students will examine how popular and official memories construct a version of the past; how identities are shaped through memories and whether memory reflects not a wish to remember but a wish to forget. Students should complete the subject with an ability to reflect critically on the different uses of historical understanding in contemporary society.