Unit name | Memory and History in the Twentieth Century |
---|---|
Unit code | MODL20010 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. John Foot |
Open unit status | Open |
Pre-requisites |
none |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | School of Modern Languages |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This course will examine the importance of cultural memory in Twentieth century Europe and Latin America. It will also provide an introduction to theoretical and methodological ways of seeing cultural memory.
The course will then look at specific events, memory objects, monuments, anniversaries and debates over memory linked to a key period of twentieth century history taking in two world wars, the cold war, periods of political violence and dictatorship. The course will look to cover debates in various countries and also in a comparative framework and to link methodological and theoretical debates with real events and the ways these events have been understood.
Students will have:
The unit will be taught in a combination of tutor- and student-led teaching, predominantly in seminar format but with a small number of introductory lectures.
One short essay or commentary of 1500 words (25%) testing ILOs 1-5 plus one essay of 2500 words (75%) testing ILOs 1-5. One formative group presentation of 5-10 minutes testing ILO 6. The short essay or commentary is normally an analysis of a specific primary text, and allows students to demonstrate their ability to analyse primary texts and relate their analysis to broader theoretical questions underpinning the unit. The longer essay will require the students to place particular debates over cultural memory or memory objects in historical context, to demonstrate ability to relate these events to debates over national identity across the various countries studied, and to draw appropriately on secondary literature to formulate their arguments effectively. The unassessed presentation will allow them to develop skills of working collaboratively and presentation in front of the group.
P. Connerton, How societies remember, CUP, Cambridge, 1989. ---- How Modernity Forgets (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
J. Foot, Italy’s Divided Memory, Palgrave, London, 2011.
R. Crownshaw, Jane Kilby and Anthony Rowland (eds.), The Future of Memory (Berghahn, 2010).
K. Hodgkin and Susannah Radstone (eds.), Contested Pasts: The Politics of Memory (Routledge: London, 2003).
M. Halbwachs, On Collective Memory, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 1992. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomsom eds., The Oral History Reader, Routledge, London, 1997.