Lecture 10

Week 10: Cultural Memory, Personal Memory and Collective Memory

Housekeeping:

Guest Lecture: Preeia Surajbali - Cultural Memory, Personal Memory and Collective Memory

• Learning is collaborative, using identity and feelings for understanding.

• Land acknowledgments connect past with practice.

Diaspora:

• Historical dispersion due to various conflicts and labor conditions.

• Includes emigrants and their descendants, often with mixed heritage.

Memory:

• Memory constructs rather than revives the past.

• Key question: who controls memory and why? Forgetting can be active.

Types of Memory:

• Personal Memory: Individual recollections based on firsthand experience.

• Cultural/Collective Memory: Shared knowledge across generations and communities.

  • Involves food, stories, and social events.

Cultural Memory:

• Involves reconstructing identities through shared pasts.

• Highlights a hierarchy in stories told versus untold, especially for marginalized communities.

Key Themes:

• Ethnic Absolutism: Community links based on shared heritage (Paul Gilroy).

• Counter Memorializing: Feminist scholars create narratives addressing gender, race, and class hierarchies.

Heidi McKenzie:

• Focuses on Indo-Caribbean women's herstories through themes of ancestry, race, and migration.

Diaspora Stories Podcast:

• Moves away from the immigrant label to explore the narratives of diaspora communities.

Black Diaspora Feminism:

• Examines how storytelling by black women forms resistance and community.

Personal Narratives:

• Life stories challenge stereotypes and integrate lived experiences into scholarship.

Indo Caribbean Feminist Epistemology:

• Highlights contributions of Indo-Caribbean women to feminist thought.

Building Solidarity:

• Emphasizes understanding personal experiences and working collaboratively with other marginalized groups.

Recommendation: Engage with grandparents for oral histories and deeper connections to culture.