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Regular version of the site
Bachelor 2021/2022

History of Collective Memory and Social Representations

Category 'Best Course for Broadening Horizons and Diversity of Knowledge and Skills'
Type: Elective course (History)
Area of studies: History
Delivered by: Department of History
When: 4 year, 1, 2 module
Mode of studies: offline
Open to: students of all HSE University campuses
Instructors: Feliks Levin
Language: English
ECTS credits: 4
Contact hours: 56

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This is a general course dedicated to the issues of memory and social representations in different historical perspectives. Its main focus is on the utility of the past which is employed by different social actors, that is why memory is always contested and depends on current socio-political contexts. Another objective of the course is to demonstrate that different epochs are characterized by specific forms of preservation of memory, and to explore the language of the narratives of memory: how they are constructed and produced. The course is divided into seven thematic clusters connected with certain issues of memory studies: approaches to collective memory; memory in ancient societies; memory in Medieval and early modern Europe; memory and nationalism; remembrances of violence: wars, traumas, working through past; institutionalization of memory, memory politics; memory and media. The course will be comprised of different historical cases ranging from Antiquity to contemporary history.
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • to familiarise the students with the major approaches in memory studies
  • to familiarize the students with the main forms of representation, production and preservation of collective memory in different historical periods from antiquity to contemporary time
  • to familiarise the students with major issues in memory studies
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • The student can communicate information and ideas in a style that is completely appropriate to discussions of scholarly literature
  • The student can comprehend primary sources effectively
  • The student can discuss scholarly issues in groups and present the results of these discussions; can solve scholarly issue in collaboration with groupmates.
  • The student can identify main thesis and issues raised in scholarly literature
  • The student is able to analyze, verify, evaluate the completeness of information in the course of professional activities, to add and synthesize missing information if necessary
  • The student is able to carry out a research into representation of cultural memory
  • The student is able to perform interdisciplinary interaction and cooperation with representatives of other fields of knowledge while solving research and applied tasks
  • The student is able to review scholarly literature in English
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Approaches to collective memory
  • Memory in ancient societies
  • Memory in medieval and early modern Europe
  • Memory and nationalism
  • Remembrances of violence: wars and traumas
  • Institutionalization of memory and memory politics
  • Memory in the post-modern world
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Seminar discussions
  • non-blocking Review of the book
  • non-blocking Research project
  • non-blocking Seminar discussions
  • non-blocking Review of the book
  • non-blocking Research project
    If a student’s average grade for seminar discussions and the review is higher or equal to 8, she/he is exempt from the final exam, and her/his resulted grade is considered the final one.
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • 2021/2022 2nd module
    0.36 * Seminar discussions + 0.24 * Review of the book + 0.4 * Research project
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Aguilar, P., & Humlebaek, C. (2002). Collective Memory and National Identity in the Spanish Democracy. History & Memory, 14(1/2), 121. https://doi.org/10.2979/HIS.2002.14.1-2.121
  • Aldrich R. Vestiges of the colonial empire in France: monuments, museums, and colonial memories. Houndmills and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
  • Herendeen, W. H. (1988). William Camden: Historian, Herald and Antiquary. Studies in Philology, 85(2), 192. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=asn&AN=5243459
  • Herf, J. (1997). Divided Memory. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=668836
  • Kansteiner, W. (2002). Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies. History & Theory, 41(2), 179. https://doi.org/10.1111/0018-2656.00198
  • LaCapra, D. (1997). Lanzmann’s ’Shoah’ : “here there is no why” (Vol. 23). Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsram&AN=edsram.000182428
  • The Invention of Tradition // ed. by E. Hobsbawm, T. Ranger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012
  • Winter, J. M. (2006). Remembering War : The Great War Between Memory and History in the Twentieth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=187914

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • A companion to cultural memory studies: an international and interdisciplinary handbook // ed. by Astrid Erll, Ansgar Nünning, Sara Young. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 2008.
  • Carruthers, M., & Ziolkowski, J. M. (2004). The Medieval Craft of Memory : An Anthology of Texts and Pictures (Vol. First pbk. edition). Philadelphia, Pa: University of Pennsylvania Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1648751
  • Eric Orlin. (2007). Augustan Religion and the Reshaping of Roman Memory. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.DBF677B4
  • Gross, A. ((Andrew S. ). (2004). Memory, authority, and identity : Holocaust studies in light of the Wilkomirski debate. Biography, 27(1), 25–47. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsram&AN=edsram.000428242