A unique and evocative amalgamation of history and memory enables the individual to embark on a challenging journey, whereby they eventually achieve a sense of respect for truth. In Jewish mysticism, it is believed that there are forty-nine gates that separate ‘good from evil’ and beyond them lies a Fiftieth gate. This is the point at which we stop moving and become aware of who we are. History is often collective and holistic; however memory and testimony are often intensively personal. “It is a symbolic site in an inhospitable wasteland”, the unique and evocative juxtaposition between a symbolic site and an inhospitable wasteland emphasizes how collective memories overwhelm the darkest times.…
Prejudice is among the top reasons for man's injustice towards one another. An example of this type of hatred was during the Holocaust. As written by Abba Eban in the essay titled The Eichmann Trial in Retrospect, "He who cannot remember the past is doomed to repeat it". In saying so, memory is essential in today's society. Knowing historical events which took place many generations ago is an asset for any individual, enabling one to distinguish between what's right and wrong. "Man is the only animal able to transmit experience. Memory is the father conscience. The issue is whether we should wipe from the tablets of memory the most vivid evidence of the consequences flowing from chauvinism, racial discrimination, and inhumanity" from Abba Eban.…
Also, Pulido discusses erasure much in the same manner that Gonzalez-Day does. Both authors believe that ignorance towards history, specifically violent history, is an injustice towards the victims and the survivors of the past. Their main argument is that history cannot at any costs be forgotten or ignored because it is an integral part of life, even in today’s society.…
History has been no stranger to the multitude of genocides and mass killings in countries all over the world and for various reasons. There are infinite ways to narrate the occurrence of these atrocities; however, they are most frequently characterized as either purposive or illness narratives determined by the culture that is creating the retelling of these experiences. Genocide can be defined as "the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation;" therefore to neglect the impact of culture in the created narrative depicting these atrocities would be deemed ignorant, primarily due to the fact that genocide and mass killings…
Learning to deal with, and share the memories from a lifetime ago is important. “The communities of memory that tie us to past also turn us toward the future as communities of hope,”2 Bellah explains. By remembering the past we see the pain, the misfortune, the danger, and the list could go on and on; but we also see hope for a better tomorrow. Recalling the bad, while looking at a problem facing the present, reminds us we are stronger than we think. Just as the communities each of us live in faced hardship to get to the place they are now, they will face even more, but are stronger now than they were at the beginning. This is because, “… collective memory is a source of social strength.”3 The strength of the nation, city,…
How Friends Ruin Memory: The Social Conformity Effect, by Jonah Lehrer, starts off by talking about how past situations, or occurrences, become interesting stories by the twisting of facts, or not telling the whole truth. Jonah mentions that it is nearly impossible for us, as human beings, to tell the whole truth when it comes to telling a story. He says that this is because we are “social animals, our memory of the past is constantly being revised to fit social pressures.” Lehrer, than talks about an experiment that was done to test the theory that human’s memories are based off of others opinions. This experiment done by four neuroscientists proved that humans choose to alter what they remember so that we fit in with the social norm. Lehrer says, “nearly 70 percent to conform to the group and give an incorrect answer. They had revised their stories in light of the social pressure.” (Pg. 217) After that, Lehrer talks about the results of the experiment and how it proved that, “the feedback of others has the ability to strongly shape our remembered experiences.” (Pg. 218) He mentions that humans are highly influenced by the memory and opinion of others, and trust the judgement of others. Therefor, making it that much easier to alter an individual opinion, and begin to share one with a larger group of people.…
National Memory is a broad term that has previously been discussed by multiple scholars (Andrews, Park, Sturken). There has not yet been a consensus on the definition of national memory by scholars, however I define national memory as a dynamic form of collective remembering defined by shared historical experiences and cultural artefacts. National memory, to me, contributes to national identity and helps establish the legitimacy of the dominant narrative. It is a form of memory that is mutual to members of a nation, but fails to voice the experience of the individual.…
“It was once said that not remembering the Holocaust means to side with the executioners against its victims; not to remember means to kill the victims a second time; not to remember means to become an accomplice of the enemy. On the other hand, to remember means to feel compassion for the victims of all persecutions. By solemnly commemorating the tragedy of the Holocaust, we will keep history in mind, never forget the past, cherish all lives, and create…
The intensification of organized violence with globalization has created new wars (Kaldor, 1999) and transformed old ones (Moore, 2000) to fundamentally alter the focus in social science on genocidal nationalism (Shaw, 2003). The new interest in social science with memory, truth and suffering (on the latter see Wilkinson, 2004) can be attributed to the negative impact that several cases of genocidal nationalism have had on our notion of late modernity as enlightened and progressive (Bauman, 1989). The discovery of memory in social science is really the return of genocide to contemporary experience. Theories of nationalism have always been sensitive to the link between nation,…
The Longest Memory is a novel by Fred D’Aguiar, which has many different underlying themes and ideas communicated through it, but all relating back to two main themes of the book. These themes are Racial Superiority and the opposing ideas of Slavery and Christian Values. The date in which this novel is set (early eighteenth century) was a brutal and a seemingly amoral time. The white population at that time had deemed it just to enslave African peoples, whom they had caught or lured onto slave ships and brought back to America. In 1861, there were 15 slave states, which agreed and consented towards enslavement.…
History can be viewed as a sequential series of indisputable events, whereas memory is of such events that are highly subjective, and affect the way in which they are perceived. The link between history and memory and the way it shapes the world around us, is a component of past and present. We are shown this throughout the prescribed text, The Fiftieth Gate, where through bakers quest we see the past continually impacting on the present, as the memories of the past affect those who have endured it. This key concept is also represented in the Channel Seven documentary, ‘Zero Hour- Disaster at Chernobyl’ and ‘Anzac Day commemorative Issue’, released by the Bulletin, 26th April 2005. All three texts show the affects of history and memory that has subsequently altered perspective on life, “History begins with its memories”.…
The Persistence of Memory was made in 1931. It was created by using oil on canvas. The work mainly features melted clocks and sky above the horizon. The clocks in this particular work are what give it a meaning. These symbols represent the facts that dreams can change and become strange and distorted. This work revolves around dreams and personal…
We must also be able to tell the difference between memory and identity and in order to do that we must first understand how the two interact with each other. Memory can take on different forms depending on whose doing the remembering, and who is sharing the information. Whether it be personal or family or private group preferences allows, and some time will enforce the changes, omissions and interpretations made by others that could serve some current purpose or sometimes be implemented without visible aim. There is always some kind of political or social context in which memory is created and shared. Memory can also be altered according to current needs (Thelen,1989).…
Parker, Jo Alyson. "Remembering the Future: Memento, the Reverse of Time 's Arrow, and the…
The study of popular memory is necessarily relational. It involves the exploration of two sets of relations: (1) that between dominant memory and oppositional forms across the public field, including academic productions; and (2) the relation between public discourse and a more privatized sense of the past generated within lived culture.2 This paper is concerned with the second of these two constitutive relations in the study of popular memory— the often vexed but close linkages between public constructions and private reminiscences. The project began with what seemed to be a simple question: what might we learn about the final decades of colonial rule in Bengal, and especially about…