| CODE | ANT3080 | ||||||
| TITLE | History, Memory and Identity | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 6 | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Anthropological Sciences | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit examines recent work on three interrelated topics that have received much anthropological attention: history, memory and identity. Rather than looking at how in the course of their lives, men enter into definite social relations for the purposes of production and reproduction, we will be examining how men and women in the course of their lives negotiate and contest the production of memories, relating these to the ever-shifting nature of their social experiences, and in so doing constitute their identities. And we shall be doing so by looking at people and groups 'on the margins'; people, groups, and genders who, in contrast to 'Europe', in the words of Eric Wolf 'have no history' (and this includes the Europe with 'no history'). At issue here are fundamental concerns for the anthropological enterprise: how do we write our anthropologies, and what is the relationship between the disciplines of history (which examines the memories of and from history) and anthropology (which may well examine the histories of memories and who they 'belong' to)? This study-unit at present is intensive and consists of daily lectures and seminars over a two-week period. The first hour is normally devoted to class presentations on current reading, the second hour to a discussion/lecture. Study-Unit Aims: - To introduce students to the complex relationship between ‘History’ (both written/official and oral), Memory, and Social Identities; - To show the malleability of history as constantly produced and thus as a social invention subject to reinterpretation; - To show that memories are socially constructed and thus culturally and class-variable; - To explore how the Nation State attempts to manufacture its own distinct history and thus by implication insinuate its own memories; - To show how memory is a supremely political artefact that can contest State-manufactured histories; - To explore this by reference to monuments and reburials of ‘illustrious corpses’. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - To introduce students to the complex relationship between ‘History’ (both written/official and oral), Memory, and Social Identities; - To show the malleability of history as constantly produced and thus as a social invention subject to reinterpretation; - To show that memories are socially constructed and thus culturally and class-variable; - To explore how the Nation State attempts to manufacture its own distinct history and thus by implication insinuate its own memories; - To show how memory is a supremely political artefact that can contest State-manufactured histories; - To explore this by reference to monuments and reburials of ‘illustrious corpses’. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Develop the ability to sift through existing literature and produce a multi-faceted analysis of a rarely explored social phenomenon; - Analyse the changing significance of monuments in their own milieu and contribute to social debates on their significance, both ‘positive’ and ‘negative’; - Utilise the analytical skills learnt through this course and apply them to other social contexts. Reading List: - A Reader of selected texts will be available. Central Texts: - James Fentress & Chris Wickham (1992) Social Memory. Blackwell: Oxford. - Halbwachs M. (1992) On Collective Memory. Edited, translated and with an introduction by L. Coser. Univ of Chicago Press: Chicago. - Connerton Paul (1989) How Societies Remember. CUP: Cambridge. - Bourguet M.N., Valensi L., Wachtel N. (1990) Between Memory and Identity. Harwood Academic Publishers: London. - Anderson B. (1991) Imagined Communities. London: Verso. - Francoise Zonabend (1984) The enduring memory. Manchester: University Press. - Hastrup K. (ed) (1992) Other Histories. Routledge: London. - Tonkin E., McDonald M., Chapman M. (eds) History and Ethnicity (eds). - Seremetakis C. Nadia (ed) (1994)The Senses Still. Perception and Memory as Material Culture in Modernity. - Pierre Nora (1989) Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Memoire, Representations 26, Spring Paul Sant Cassia: Tourism, Tradition and Memory in Malta. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Vol 5 No 2 (1999) pp247-263. |
||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||
| LECTURER/S | Paul Sant Cassia |
||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
|||||||