AMST 360 - Memory Work

1 unit(s)

Toni Morrison describes, what we would call memory work, as “a kind of literary archeology: on the basis of some information and a little bit of guesswork you journey to a site to see what remains were left behind and to reconstruct the world that these remains imply.” This seminar focuses on the process of this reconstruction through major works in memory studies concerning the politics of remembering and forgetting, narrative and form, and philosophical and cognitive aspects of memory as well as recent interventions in the phenomenology of memory, the industry of memorialization, hauntology, indigenous protocol, and ruin as methodology from a global perspective. Students engage these topics through texts, visual culture, digital archives, and sound to gain a deeper understanding of the functions and purposes of memory. Finally, students are asked to grapple with and put into practice course material through a personal memory work project.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

One 2-hour period.

Not offered in 2024/25.

Course Format: CLS