Universität Wien

240034 VS Unsettled Memories: Memory in Times of Crisis, Displacement and (Im)mobility (3.3.2) (2023S)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 24 - Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie
Continuous assessment of course work

Participation at first session is obligatory!

The lecturer can invite students to a grade-relevant discussion about partial achievements. Partial achievements that are obtained by fraud or plagiarized result in the non-evaluation of the course (entry 'X' in certificate). The plagiarism software 'Turnitin' will be used for courses with continuous assessment.
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 20 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

If possible, the course is to be conducted in presence. Due to the respective applicable distance regulations and other measures, adjustments may be made.

UPDATE 20.03.2023: changed dates

  • Thursday 02.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 09.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 16.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 23.03. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 20.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 27.04. 09:45 - 11:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 04.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 11.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 25.05. 09:45 - 11:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 01.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 15.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Übungsraum (A414) NIG 4. Stock
  • Thursday 22.06. 09:45 - 11:15 Hörsaal C, NIG 4. Stock

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This seminar focuses on memory in times of crisis and biographical rupture caused by conflict, displacement and experiences of (im)mobility. History and collective memory are prone to be rewritten in times of crises and political upheavals. At the same time, individuals who experience these times as biographical ruptures reposition themselves vis-à-vis local history and are likely to revise their life narratives. These two practices are closely interlinked. Thus we will not only focus on collective memory and personal memory, but also explore the intersection of the personal and the collective through an anthropological and ethnographic perspective. This will include a focus on postcolonial memories and on the politics of apology and reparation.
Central themes of the seminar are:
• Theories of social memory
• Memory, war and displacement
• Postcolonial and multidirectional memories
• Life narratives, biographical ruptures, ambivalences
• Sites of memory and mnemonic objects
• Historical generations, transmission of memory
• Migrant and transnational memories
• Silencing, forgetting and nostalgia

The lecturer will introduce the theme in the beginning of each session. There will be a great emphasis on students' participation. In preparation for each class, students upload on Moodle a critical question on the compulsory readings. Students will also prepare a presentation on a selected topic and upload their slides on Moodle to share with others. During the semester, each student will complete three small written assignments (approx. 2 pages) answering questions and making connections between relevant literature.

Assessment and permitted materials

25% of the final grade: active participation/discussion in class/written critical questions on the compulsory texts
30% of the final grade: presentation and discussion of a chosen topic
45% of the final grade: three written assignments (approx. 2 pages each) completed during the semester

Please be aware that all of the above-listed assignments are required in order to receive a positive evaluation.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria


Grading scale:
91 - 100 points = 1 (sehr gut)
81 - 90 points = 2 (gut)
71 - 80 points = 3 (befriedigend)
61 - 70 points = 4 (genügend)
0 - 60 points = 5 (nicht genügend)

Examination topics

Reading list

The reading list and all texts will be provided via the online learning platform Moodle.

Some selected readings:

Argenti, Nicolas and Katharina Schramm. Remembering Violence: Anthropological Perspectives on Intergenerational Transmission. New York, 229-250. Oxford: Berghahn, 2010.

Bloch, Maurice. “Autobiographical Memory and the Historical Memory of the More Distant Past.“ In How We Think They Think: Anthropological Approaches to Cognition, Memory, and Literacy, edited by Maurice Bloch, 114-127. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1998.

Boym, Svetlana The Future of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books, 2001.

Cappelletto, Francesca. "Long-Term Memory of Extreme Events: From Autobiography to History." The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 9, no. 2 (2003): 241-60.

Climo, Jacob, and Maria G. Cattell. "Introduction. Meaning in Social Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives." In Social Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives, edited by Jacob Climo and Cattell Maria G., 1-36. Walnut Creek; Lanham; New York: Altamira Press, 2002.

Connerton, Paul How Societies Remember. Cambridge; New York; Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Eastmond, Marita. "Stories as Lived Experience: Narratives in Forced Migration Research." Journal of Refugee Studies 20, no. 2 (2007): 248-64.

Halbwachs, Maurice. On Collective Memory. Chicago; London: The University of Chicago Press, 1992, Chapter 3, 4 and 8.

Kidron, Carol A. 2009. Toward an Ethnography of Silence: The Lived Presence of the Past in the Everyday Life of Holocaust Trauma Survivors and Their Descendants in Israel. Current Anthropology 50(1): 5–27.

Morrison, Toni, ‘The Site of Memory’ in William K. Zinsser, ed. Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir (1995), pp. 85-102.

Olick, Jeffrey. "Collective Memory: The Two Cultures." Sociological Theory 17, no. 3 (1999): 333-48.

Palmberger, Monika. How Generations Remember. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

Palmberger, Monika. “Relational Ambivalence: Exploring the social and discursive dimensions of ambivalence – the case of Turkish aging labor migrants”. In International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 2019, Vol. 70, No. 1-2: 74-90.

Rothberg, Michael. 2009. Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization. Standford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Sorabji, Cornelia. "Managing Memories in Post-War Sarajevo: Individuals, Bad Memories, and New Wars." The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 12, no. 1 (2006): 1-18.

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 20.03.2023 10:29