131-550 Memory and History

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in history.

This subject will address 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 social memories intersect? What do the sites of memory tell us about how events are remembered, and why some are forgotten? How does memory 'become' history? In this subject we will be examining 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. The subject is divided into two parts. The first five weeks of the course is a consideration of the thematic and conceptual aspects of 'memory'. We consider individual memories and autobiography; indigenous memory; collective and social memories, gendered memories, and oral histories. In the second part of the subject, we look at the ways in which memory and history are represented in various sites and texts, such as museums, memorials, film and television, and through national commemorations.

• research, through competent use of the library and other information sources, and the definition of areas of inquiry and methods of research;

• critical thinking and analysis, through recommended reading, essay writing and tutorial discussion and by determining the strength of an argument;

• thinking in theoretical terms, seminar discussion, essay writing and engagement in the methodologies of the humanities and social sciences which include issues of gender, ethnicity, and sexuality;

• understanding of social, ethical and cultural context, through the contextualisation of judgments, developing critical self-awareness, being open to new ideas and possibilities and by constructing an argument;

• communicating knowledge intelligibly and economically, through essay writing and tutorial discussion;

• written communication, through essay preparation and writing;

• attention to detail, through essay preparation and writing;

• time management and planning through managing and organising workloads for recommended reading, essay and assignment completion.

A 5000 word essay 100% (due during the examination period).

A subject reader will be available