Memory Matters: Mediating
Present Pasts for the Future
Dr Susannah Eckersley
Week 1 2022/23
Today’s schedule
1-2pm - Lecture 1: Introduction to Memory & Memory Studies
Short break
2-3pm - Lecture 2: Introduction to how this module works
Seminars
• Mondays 4-5pm Seminar 1 (Monday group)
• Wednesday 11-12noon Seminar 1 (Wednesday group)
Introduction to Memory & Memory Studies
Take a sheet of paper
1. Write down 5 words of phrases that you think this module will be about
2. Write down 1 statement starting:
‘I hope that this module covers ….’
3. Write down 1 statement starting:
‘I hope this module will connect to … in my degree and other
modules’
Write these in clear simple English, so that your neighbour can read it easily.
What is memory?
With the person closest to you:
1. Exchange your written notes, and discuss them briefly, then
together
2. Agree a short description of what you think memory is
3. List 4 or 5 different examples
Be prepared to share these ideas with the class and with me
What is memory? Is it…
• personal?
• social or collective?
• an action?
• a moment?
• an ongoing process?
What is memory? Is it…
• physical/material/tangible?
• intangible/ephemeral?
• institutionalised/mediatised/politicised?
• changing or fixed?
• connected to time – the past, the present and the future
What is memory?
• How does the past become memory?
• Does memory exist in the present or in the past?
• How is memory shaped and how does it change?
• Why do we remember?
• Memory or history?
• Memory or heritage?
What is Memory Studies?
With the person closest to you, make a short list of
1. Different academic disciplines that include aspects of memory?
Give examples (perhaps from your own degree or modules) where
memory is an important underlying issue.
2. How can memory be analysed in these disciplines? Give 5 or 6
examples of different sources or different ways to analyse
(methods).
What is Memory Studies?
• Cultural Studies
• Media Studies
• Communication Studies
• Museum/Gallery/Heritage Studies
• Journalism
• Film
• PR
What is Memory Studies?
• Politics
• Sociology
• Anthropology
• Languages and Literature
• Art
• History
• Archaeology
• Psychology
Key questions for the module
• Who is remembering what, when, on behalf of whom?
• What we remember / how we remember / why we remember
• Media of memory
• Cultures of memory
• Politics of memory
‘Memory is an umbrella term for all those processes of a biological,
media or social natures which relate past and present (and future) in
sociocultural contexts’ (Astrid Erll 2011:7)
Memory is socially-constructed – so…
• Memory is personal but not individual (Garde-Hansen 2011:14-15)
• Memory is related to the present (Erll 2011:8)
• Memory is linked to emotion (Garde-Hansen 2011:15)
• Memory is linked to identity (Garde-Hansen 2011:15, Whitehead
2009:7) therefore it is gendered (Whitehead 2009:13) and linked to
class, ethnicity, nation, age, (dis)ability, etc
• Memory has a (and is related to) history (Garde-Nasen 2011:13, 19-
20; Erll 2011:7, Whitehead 2009:3) but it changes over time
(Whitehead 2009:8). Memory means different things at different
times (Radstone)
Memory is socially-constructed – so…
• Memory is ‘a dimension of political practice’ (Garde-Hansen 2011:25)
• Memory is subject to public debate, it is partial and selective
• Memory is linked to forgetting (Erll 2011:8, Whitehead 2009:13)
• Memory is related to sites (Nora) space and places (Whitehead
2009:10) and to physical, digital and metaphorical archives (Garde-
Hansen 2011:22)
• Memory crosses disciplines and is an ‘intersection’ of discourse,
forms and practices (Garde Hansen 2011)
• Memory is mobile (Reading 2009) it is a ‘travelling concept
(whitehead 2099:2)
Memory is
materialised
Silesian Museum
Görlitz, Germany
Memory is
communicated
Memory is communicated
“it is in society that people normally acquire their memories. It is also
in society that they recall, recognize and localize their memories…”
(Halbwachs, On Collective Memory 1992:38)
“conversations can often serve as a vehicle through which memories
spread across a community” (Stone & Hirst 2014)
Memory is lost, forgotten, preserved,
imagined, shared, appropriated, politicised…
House of European History
Memory is complicated!
Andreas Huyssen talks of a ‘memory boom’ (1993)
Astrid Erll calls memories ‘small islands in a sea of forgetting’
There are multiple, sometimes contradictory, definitions of memory,
each has a different focus or starting point.
Think about what is relevant to the examples you wish to discuss and
analyse, each time.
Self-reflection is critical to understanding memory.
Introduction to this module
Module structure
Weekly lectures and seminars, weekly independent reading and preparation.
Mid-semester assessment, and end of semester assessment.
Module staff
Dr Susannah Eckersley, Module Leader
Dr Phil Deans, Seminar leader
Samantha Vaughn, week 3 and week 9 lectures and seminars
What are the expectations?
Come on time, come prepared, bring and share ideas. If something isn’t
working – let me know!
Introduction to this module: how to…
• Canvas – the first place to go for any information!
• reading lists – available from the library and on Canvas – week by
week essential reading, and recommended reading for the module.
Read widely, read often.
• online resources – will sometimes be posted on canvas in addition
Introduction to this module: how to…
Learning and teaching
• Lectures – 2 hours weekly, on Mondays
• Seminars – 1 hour weekly, either on Mondays or Wednesdays
• Preparation – specific reading materials for each week on Canvas,
further reading on Canvas Reading List. Seminar activity preparation
weekly in advance (on Canvas)
• Participation – activities in seminars and lectures require interaction
and participation, individually, in pairs, in small groups, etc
Introduction to this module: how to…
• Assessments – two for the module.
• Mid-semester (Discussion board posts and comments)
• End of semester (Essay)
• All guidance will be posted on Canvas
• Discussion board posts
• 4 discussion board posts
• 2 comments on other posts
• Focus on topical issues (selected in seminar 2). Write using references to literature (as for an
essay), in a professional style and manner. Pose questions or raise issues for others to
comment on.
• Save copies of these for your assignment submission
• Essay
• Written essay discussing a topic in detail
• Use literature from the reading lists, and beyond (there is always more to read!)
• Use examples, sources and theories to help you to illustrate, evidence and critique your
argument
Introduction to this module: how to…
Feedback:
On assessed work via canvas
On contributions in class
Office hours
Susannah Eckersley, Mondays 9.30-11.30 or by appointment (during teaching weeks)
Questions
After class/in breaks
By email (5 working days, between 9am-5pm) [email protected]
Check canvas, check module handbook, check timetable
Activity to prepare before seminar 1
Mini-memory adventures
• Spend 20 minutes out in Newcastle or on campus, or look online (in social
media platforms etc), in search of examples of memory (in whatever form
you find it)
• Make a note of everything you find that relates to memory. Take photos,
make notes, think about why it is an example of memory (or why others
might say it is not)
• Ask yourself the key question:
Who is remembering what, when, where, why, and on behalf of
whom?
• Bring your notes, photos, ideas to your seminar group and be prepared to
share and discuss them in your seminar group
