Memory Studies: Basic Concepts and New Research Directions

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English minimum B2 level. No further conditions for participation. Erasmus students are particularly welcome! In case of large number of applicants, a selection criteria will be a letter (max. 1000 words in English) explaining the motivation for taking the course.

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Have you ever wondered about the differences between the ways history has been told and transmitted in your family, school or social media? Why are some historical events important for you but are disregarded by your parents or colleagues abroad? Memory studies have some answers to those questions. Developing at the intersection of humanities and social sciences, and including research results and methodologies coming from sociology, psychology, cultural studies, history, political science, and others, memory studies have become one of the most dynamic multidisciplinary fields of inquiry of the last decades.Memory studies scholars are often involved in expertise and discussions on the role of history policy, memory politics, or historical heritage in public sphere. This course will discuss the basic concepts of the field and new research directions which are particularly relevant to sociologists. Each class will be devoted to a different concept.

Developing at the intersection of humanities and social sciences, and including research results and methodologies coming from sociology, psychology, cultural studies, history, political science, and other disciplines, memory studies have become one of the most dynamic multidisciplinary fields of inquiry of the last decades. Scholars doing memory studies are often involved in expertise and discussions on the role of history policy, memory politics, or historical heritage in public sphere. In this course we will discuss the basic concepts of the field and new research directions which are particularly relevant to sociologists. Each class will be devoted to a different concept, or a group of concepts. Students are expected to do short readings before the class and take part in class discussions. They will also write a review of a recently published book in memory studies of their own choice.

The following list of proposed topics (and related readings) might slightly change on demand of course participants.:

Memory and society 1

Memory and society 2

Family memory

Generational memory

Class memory

Social movements

Memory and urban space

Nostalgia

National memory 1

National memory 2

Memory laws

Cultural Memory 1

Cultural Memory 2

Cosmopolitan and agonistic memory

Digital memories

Environmental memories

CMR for The Collective Memory Reader, eds. J. K. Olick, V. Vinitzky-​Seroussi, D. Levy, Oxford University Press 2011

and RIHMS for the Routledge International Handbook of Memory Studies, eds A. L. Tota, T. Hagen, Routledge 2016.

É. Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life; M. Halbwachs, The Collective Memory; M Bloch, Collective Memory, Custom, and Tradition: About a Recent Book, Ch. Blondel, Critical Review of M. Halbwachs Les cadres sociaux de la mémoire” in CMR.

F. Bartlett, Remembering: A Study in Experimental and Social Psychology; E. Zerubavel, Social Memories: Steps towards a Sociology of the Past; J. K. Olick, Collective Memory: The Two Cultures, in CMR.

K. Barclay, NJ Koefoed, Family, Memory, and Identity: An Introduction. Journal of Family History. 2021 46(1): 3-12. doi:10.1177/0363199020967297

H. Welzer et al, Grandpa Wasn’t a Nazi: National Socialism and Holocaust in Family Memory in CMR.

K. Mannheim, The Sociological Problem of Generations; M. Hirsch, The Generation of Postmemory in CMR. JK. Olick, The Sins of the Fathers, OUP, p. 426-469.

A. Portelli, Uchronic Dreams: Working Class Memory and Possible Worlds, Oral History. 1988 16 (2): 46-56.

R. Eyerman, Social Movements and Memory in RHIMS.

K. Loughran, G. A. Fine, and M. A. Hunter, Urban Spaces, City Cultures, and Collective Memories in RIHMS.

F. Davis, Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia; S. Boym, Nostalgia and Its Discontents in CMR.

Y. Gabriel, Organizational Nostalgia: Reflections on the Golden Age, in: Emotion in Organizations, ed. S. Fineman, Sage 1993.

E. Renan, What Is a Nation?; J. Bodnar, Remaking America: Public Memory, Commemoration and Patriotism in the Twentieth Century; E. Hobsbawm, Introduction: Inventing Traditions in CMR.

P. H. Hutton, Pierre Nora’s Les Lieux de mémoire Thirty Years After, in RHIMS.

K. Bachmann et al. The Puzzle of Punitive Memory Laws: New Insights into the Origins and Scope of Punitive Memory Laws. East European Politics and Societies. August 2020. doi:10.1177/0888325420941093.

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E. Gombrich, Aby Warburg: An Intellectual Biography: J. Assmann, Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism; J. Assmann, Collective Memory and Cultural Identity; A. Assmann, Canon and Archive in CMR.

A. Rigney, Cultural Memory Studies: mediation, narrative, and the aesthetic in RIHMS

Erll, Travelling Memory, Parallax 17 (4), 2011.

D. Levy and N. Sznaider, Memory Unbound: The Holocaust and the Formation of Cosmopolitan Memory in CMR.

AC Bull, HL Hansen, On agonistic memory. Memory Studies. 2016; 9 (4): 390-404. doi:10.1177/1750698015615935.

J. K. Young, “Filled with Words”: Modeling the September 11 Digital Archive and the Utility of Digital Methods in the Study of Memory; José van Dijck, Connective Memory: How Facebook Takes Charge of Your Past; in: Memory Unbound: Tracing the Dynamics of Memory Studies, eds, Lucy Bond, Stef Craps, and

Pieter Vermeulen Berghhan Books 2017.

J. Garde-Hansen et al. Sustainable flood memory: Remembering as resilience. Memory Studies 2017 10(4):384-405. doi:10.1177/1750698016667453.

K_W01 Knows and understands basic concepts of sociological approaches to memory studies

K_W03 Is aware of ongoing theoretical and methodological disputes conducted in modern sociology; is reflective and critical of various positions

K_W16 Has in-depth knowledge about major international and domestic sociological research pertaining to memory studies

K_U04 Can critically select information and materials for academic work, using various sources in English as well as modern technologies

K_U19 Can prepare a presentation of a selected problem or study in English

K_K14 Takes responsibility for planned and performed tasks

In-class participation (60 %), book review (40 %).