Amnesiology: Towards the study of cultural oblivion

Abstract

It is generally accepted that memory is a dialectic involving both remembering and forgetting. Also, there is agreement among cultural memory scholars that acts of memory seek to counter the effects of forgetting: they serve the imperative to remember and impede the work of forgetting. This article develops the concept of amnesiology to explore forgetting and forgetfulness not as a failure of memory but as a made condition, produced and reproduced. Focusing on Jonathan Safran Foer's Tree of Codes, a book which was carved out of Bruno Schulz's The Street of Crocodiles, it inquires into the relationship between memory performance and the production of oblivion and explores the role of language and literature in it. As I argue, the die-cut pages of Tree of Codes invite reflection on the narrative and technological dimensions of memory as well as on the role silence, repression and absence play in it as technologies of forgetting.

Revisitingthe social organisation of national memory: A look at the calendars of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia

“…In this respect, a pattern of three mnemonic clusters is observed in all three calendars: periods of independence (≈1918-early 1920s), occupations (≈1939/1940-early 1950s) and re-gained independence (≈ late 1980s-early 1990s). By studying the organisation of these clusters in relation to one another, two prominent calendro-commemorative gaps become visible – that provide an entry point into engagement with amnesiology (Plate, 2016). This article paid closer attention to the strategic silencing of Soviet times within national memory (≈ 1950s-1980s), which provides coherence and meaning to the post-1990s states, by, in part, allowing to make an emphasis on continuity of statehood (1918 to 1990/1991).…”

“…Vinitzky-Seroussi and Teeger, 2010). In this respect, this article aims to contribute to the agenda of amnesiology , as recently proposed by Liedeke Plate (2016: 148) on the pages of this journal.…”

“…These sections will be followed by an outline of methodological assumptions and a modified application of Zerubavel's mnemonic cardiograms and national commemograms to the case of the Baltic states. The last section will address the main silences within Baltic calendars, providing an illustration of how Zerubavel's mnemonic tools can provide an entry point into amnesiology (Plate, 2016).…”

Understanding the persistence of history-related issues in Sino–Japanese relations: from memory to forgetting

“…In memory studies, a 'discursive shift' has already started to 'take place from memory to forgetting' (Whitehead 2009: 154). Some have argued for a move from memory studies to oblivion studies (Plate 2016). As part of this ongoing turn, scholars have begun to explore the concept of forgetting not just as the loss of or the flipside of memory, but as a concept in its own right which is considerably more complex than often suggested.…”

“…This article draws on recent work in memory studies where a conceptual shift from memory to forgetting has started to occur (e.g. Augé 2004;Connerton 2008;Whitehead 2009: 154;Plate 2016). It argues that shifting the focus from memory to forgetting and engaging in depth with the concept of forgetting can advance our understanding of international memory politics in general and why such issues are so persistent in particular.…”