Memory Studies Reading Memory According

Memory Studies

Reading Memory

According to these articles, the main idea of the week is the complex relationship that exists primarily between memory and history. There is somewhat of a tautological relationship between these two concepts, as some of the articles suggest that memory occupies a primary place and that the recording, and archiving of history is secondary. However, others readings in this packet seem to suggest that inherently, memory is not something that is worthy of trust or that, at the very least, it is considerably less reliable than history itself. However, all of the articles take different approaches and explore dissimilar aspects of history and memory to reach their conclusions.

In the week6 reading, the author examines what appears to be the highly subjective nature of the practice of archiving in general. This topic is explored within the framework of analyzing disparate practices of archiving primarily associated with the Ottoman Empire as it exists today, and questions many of these practices. One of the author's overall points is that much like selective memory, there is an extreme issuance of selectivity involved as to what information gets recorded in an archive, as well as in what sort of information is ultimately preserved (or in some cases, destroyed), within these documents that are used as more reliable indicators of the past that mere memory.

In the week 6-1 reading, the author explores the attention given to memory and memorials after a particularly traumatic situation. Specifically, the author examines how memorials of those who died during the attacks on the World Trade Center were utilized and in not a few cases marginalized as simply a means of urging the country to pursue martial efforts. Whereas tradition observes that memorials usually take the place of the conclusion of traumatic events, the author argues that in the case of 9/11, memorials were largely forsaken in an effort to induce the country to go to war.

The theme of the accuracy of memory in the wake of traumatic events is one shared between virtually all of the articles in this packet of reading. It certainly was evinced within the reading for week 6-3, in which an author explores a dispute between survivors of a massacre within Palestine and the claims of Jewish soldiers present who stated that there was no such massacre. In this case -- which actually involved a legal trial -- memory was once again subjected to more pervasive aspects of history, possibly most prominently that of the Israeli law that dismissed the claims of the massacre.

The reading for week 6-2 demonstrates the amount of vibrancy and effervescence that historians have by being able to access archives. The author explores this potential of the historiographer by contrasting the relationship and reliability of memory and history, particularly as the latter is related to archiving. However, the propensity for researchers to resurrect the lives and events of the path through simply finding out and reading about them is a principle area of focus for this article.