Memory Studies: Basic Concepts and New Research Directions

2021-10-01
 – 2022-01-30

Course offered at the University of Warsaw in the winter semester 2021/22. Please see the University of Warsaw USOS system for the full syllabus and organizational details.

Speakers

joanna wawrzyniak 3
Joanna Wawrzyniak
Center for Research on Social Memory, Faculty of Sociology, University of Warsaw

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; family memory; generational memory; class memory; social movements and memory;  memory and urban space; nostalgia; national memory; memory laws; cultural memory; cosmopolitan and agonistic memory; digital memories; environmental memories.

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