Memory
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November 11, 2018, is the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, a time of remembering and memorial, of linking past events to the world we live in today. Taking this particular moment as a catalyst, this book examines the character and relevance of memory more broadly. The essays in this collection ask readers to think creatively and deeply about notions of memory – its composition and practices – and the ways that memory is transmitted, recorded, and distorted through time and space.
Memory navigates a broad terrain, with essays drawn from a diverse group of contributors who capture different perspectives on the idea of memory in fields ranging from molecular genetics, astrophysics and engineering, to law, Indigenous oral histories, and the natural world. This book challenges readers to think critically about memory, offering an engaging and interdisciplinary roadmap for exploring how, why, and when we remember.
Accessibly written, these lively essays will appeal to intellectually curious members of the public.
...the book is better suited for reflection than for focused study, but the essays read together effect a thought-provoking exploration of timely themes and enrich readers' understanding of memory in its many facets. | Summing Up: Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and professionals.
...the inclusion of interesting, accessible contributions from the sciences is one of the great strengths of the collection; they are refreshing reading for those of us more familiar with humanistic discussions of memory, and intriguing for the parallels and contrasts they suggest.
The enormous memory capacity of the human brain has been the key to our success as a species as we learn through observation, trial and error, mistakes and successes, passing along priceless life lessons to succeeding generations. From Indigenous knowledge to neuroscience and engineering, this excellent collection of essays provides a multi-pronged approach that puts memory into a much-needed context at a time when change has become so ubiquitous and rapid.
If you care about the nuances of how, what, where, and why we remember (and forget), then Memory is the book for you. The concise and cogent explorations undertaken here range in focus from the molecular to the planetary, mapping all the complexities of memory: cognitive and cultural, biological and historical, social and ecological, collective and individual.
The contributions to this astounding collection reframe our inner construct of remembering and forgetting – exposing, for example, our socially constructed pressures to edit out the political reality of colonial oppression, as well as our amnesia around the destruction of the environment. The power of reflection, thought, and dialogue is found on every page. A more creative assemblage of essays on this important and timely topic would be difficult to find.
Philippe Tortell is director of the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, and a professor in the departments of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, and Botany. Mark Turin is an associate professor in the department of anthropology and First Nations and Endangered Languages. Margot Young is a professor in the Peter A. Allard School of Law. All the editors work at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, which is located on traditional, ancestral, and unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) territory.
Introduction / Philippe Tortell, Mark Turin, and Margot Young
Healing through Culture / Hilistis Pauline Waterfall
Ecological Amnesia / Wade Davis
Climate Tales / Edouard Bard
Making Ruins / Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber
Timothy Findley’s The Wars / Sherrill Grace
Echoes across Generations / Patricia M. Schulte and Judith G. Hall
Reconciliation Pole / Nicola Levell
First Light / Harvey Richer
Corroboration / Elee Kraljii Gardiner
Ships at Sea / Renisa Mawani
Constructed Futures / Caitlin Mills and Kalina Christoff
Artistic Silhouettes / Cynthia E. Milton
Material Past / John Grace and Roland Clift
Critical Periods and Early Experience / Janet F. Werker and Lawrence M. Ward
Releasing Trauma / George Belliveau
A Fishy Story / Anthony Farrell
Reconstructing the Past / Megan E. Giroux, Lara Boyd, Deborah A. Connolly, and Daniel M. Bernstein
Documents of Dissent / Laura Osorio Sunnucks, Gwyneira Isaac, and Diana Marsh
Anthems / Ian Williams
In Defence of Forgetting / Shannon Walsh
Monuments in Stone and Colour / Hanna Smyth
Microcosmos / Steven J. Hallam
Time, Oral Tradition, and Technology / Andrew Martindale, Sara Shneiderman, and Mark Turin
Global 1918 / Tara Mayer and Pheroze Unwalla
Reweaving the Past / Michelle LeBaron and Paulette Regan
The Digital Shoebox / Serge Abiteboul
Indigenous Storytelling / Jo-ann Archibald | Q’um Q’um Xiiem
Self, Lost and Found / Alison Phinney
Contributors
