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This paper explores the relationship between memory, history and identity from the perspective of Ricœur‟s philosophical hermeneutics, in which the concept of memory integrates those of history and forgetting. This approach puts in a new light the ancient truth of the hypostasis of memory as a condition for the recognition of identity both at the individual and collective level and at the same time the contexts of human creativity. Thanks to memory, the imagination can bring faces, events, facts from the past back into the present and, in this sense, memory as a “province of the imagination” beyond its temporalizing function could play a heuristic role, namely to discover the use of memory not only by ideology as an expression of the social imaginary, intended to legitimize power, but also to recognize and build an authentic identity, to understand human being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Insāniyāt / Revue Algérienne d'Anthropologie et de Sciences Sociales is the property of Centre de Recherche en Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle (CRASC) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The present work deals with the genre of literary testimony and explores its double literary-historical status, as well as its unique position at the crossroads between memory and imagination. The paper analyses the specificity of Jorge Semprún's literary testimonies and focuses itself on the phenomenon of the imaginary memories and the image of snow, considering emblematic examples of the fusion of mnemonic and imaginary faculties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introductory paper outlines the conceptual framework and case studies comprising the research project Disrupted Histories, Recovered Pasts. Our project proposes a cross-disciplinary analysis and cross-case synthesis of experience and memory in post-conflict and postcolonial contexts. In the post- conflict and colonial contexts of our cases, we see “disruption” as present in three senses: as the productive ways in which multiple experiences retrieved through oral histories may refract and revise historical analysis; as the happening histories of objectively disruptive events break the flow of individual and collective experience; and as a strategy for cross-disciplinary research to disrupt and democratise conventional understanding by drawing attention to occluded experiences. We also articulate “recovery” as polysemic: invoking retrieval of past experiences and the possibility for enhanced well-being through voicing memories that may have been suppressed, as well as attending to mismatches with public discourses about displaced groups and individual experience. Following an introduction to our conceptual approach, we summarise our case-research. We have conducted oral history and archival research in multiple contexts, from disciplinary bases in anthropology and history. Our aim has been to interrogate relationships between oral histories and amateur histories with more formal written archives and historiography in a series of disrupted settings: evictions in colonial and apartheid west Namibia (SULLIVAN); memories and historical interpretations of the Egyptian Jewish diaspora (BAUSSANT); the evacuation of children in Second World War France (DODD); recent maritime exodus of migrants from Africa (OTELE); and rupture from a hegemonic imperial-nostalgic narrative in Portugal (DOS SANTOS). Our case research is complemented in the concluding paper of this Special Issue by systematic cross-case engagement, synthesis and theorisation of our case-study research.

This introductory paper outlines the conceptual framework and case studies comprising the research project Disrupted Histories, Recovered Pasts. Our project proposes a cross-disciplinary analysis and cross-case synthesis of experience and memory in post-conflict and postcolonial contexts. In the post- conflict and colonial contexts of our cases, we see “disruption” as present in three senses: as the productive ways in which multiple experiences retrieved through oral histories may refract and revise historical analysis; as the happening histories of objectively disruptive events break the flow of individual and collective experience; and as a strategy for cross-disciplinary research to disrupt and democratise conventional understanding by drawing attention to occluded experiences. We also articulate “recovery” as polysemic: invoking retrieval of past experiences and the possibility for enhanced well-being through voicing memories that may have been suppressed, as well as attending to mismatches with public discourses about displaced groups and individual experience. Following an introduction to our conceptual approach, we summarise our case-research. We have conducted oral history and archival research in multiple contexts, from disciplinary bases in anthropology and history. Our aim has been to interrogate relationships between oral histories and amateur histories with more formal written archives and historiography in a series of disrupted settings: evictions in colonial and apartheid west Namibia (SULLIVAN); memories and historical interpretations of the Egyptian Jewish diaspora (BAUSSANT); the evacuation of children in Second World War France (DODD); recent maritime exodus of migrants from Africa (OTELE); and rupture from a hegemonic imperial-nostalgic narrative in Portugal (DOS SANTOS). Our case research is complemented in the concluding paper of this Special Issue by systematic cross-case engagement, synthesis and theorisation of our case-study research.

In this paper, I intend to study the contribution of Aby Warburg, a cultural theorist and an art historian, especially his concern with the relations between memory and history, relations that have been theorized in the late 20th century, but which Warburg anticipated, to a certain degree. In his writings, there can be identified those relations that make memory a metahistorical category or an anti-historical discourse (Pierre Nora, Yosef Yerushalmi); then, his writings can be connected with those of Maurice Halbwachs, the first who approached memory as a social phenomenon. Thus, according to Warburg, collective memory can be regarded as a medium for art, which ensures the survival of images and pathos formulas even when the violence of historical development leads to a decline of the creative spirit. One might say that via a detour through the archaic (Pueblo Indian culture), Warburg managed to reduce the distances which the historical method had established to the Antiquity's vestiges (process that started in the Renaissance). His hypothesis was that the employment in the historical development of Western civilization leads to the atrophy of certain potentialities of the human spirit, which can be addressed in the anti-historicist discourse, specific to postmodernity. In the last part of the paper, I propose to dwell on The Mnemosyne Atlas, Warburg’s last project, as a visual synthesis of the research that he conducted throughout his life.

Copyright of Canadian Historical Review is the property of University of Toronto Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper analyzes in depth two works by the Cameroonian writer Léonora Miano. This author represents the contemporary migration writing coming from Subsaharan Africa, denotated sometimes as migritude and dealing with subjects such as migrations, exiles, hybridity, postcolonialism and post-postcolonialism and the individual vs collective experience. The paper focuses more closely on one particular aspect of her writing: the representation of the historical memory of Africa, through the newly established Afropean identity of her characters, who strive to find their place between Europe and Africa.

This paper argues that ancient Greek refugees, like many of their modern counterparts, often made skilful use of history and memory in order to exercise political agency, which helped to compensate for their loss of conventional political power and status. The paper analyses the multiple ways in which ancient Greek refugees appealed to myth, history and memory to claim political legitimacy, build a meaningful exile community and develop diplomatic relationships with benefactors. It also shows how, after their return home, former refugees made use of commemoration of the period of exile itself as an important tool in rebuilding the citizen-body and in sustaining their interstate networks.

This paper discusses how Masjid-e-Jahan Numa(Masjid with world vision, popularly known as Jama Masjid) constructed by Emperor Shahjahan, the fifth Mughal ruler in India, shaped the popular memory of people in Delhi and the ruling State alike until the late nineteenth century, two centuries after its construction. This mosque which was built in 1656 became the site of contestations between the Muslims of Delhi and the British Colonial State when the former was involved in a revolt against the latter in 1857 A.D., which is generally known as the Indian mutiny. The memories of violating this monument did leave a drastic impact on the minds of the people for whom this mosque was the symbol of piety, authority and moral prestige.

Between 1904 and 1907 the brutal repression of the Herero and Nama revolts against German colonial rule caused what has been defined the first genocide of the 20th century. During the history of Namibia, the memory of this traumatic event has been used to support the struggle for independence from South Africa and to asks for reparations from Germany. At the same time, however, this memory was also set apart by the Herero and Nama communities in occupied Namibia. The analysis of the mnemoscape of present-day Namibia, i.e. of monuments and museums, is very representative in this sense. This paper is an overview of the historical literature on the link between memory and various historical interpretations of the Herero and Nama genocide and of their connections with the “memory landscape” of present day Namibia.

In Venezuela since the elaboration of the first textbooks in the nineteenth century until today, History’s teaching has been part of an important process including discussion and reflection about the contents and the adopted didactic strategies. This paper aims to review the fundamental aspects concerning the deficiencies and recurring problems in History’s teaching and to analize the tensions and conflicts brought about by study options and contents related to Venezuelan History in the textbooks, formulated and distributed by the actual Venezuelan government.

Remember a date, a character, or a particular event contains the danger to construct or reconstruct the past in serving particular interests. This choice also leads to the failure to remember other events and forget some of his players. This paper is focused on the delayed transition from memory to history in works devoted to the Spanish participation in the French Resistance. I order to achieve this target, I analyse first, the “historiography” dedicated to this topic. And then, I present a brief balance of meetings and recent tributes dedicated to the Spaniards volunteers that allow me to reflect on how some of those Works and homages’ contributed to the creation of mythical figures.

This paper deals with the representation of war and conflicts in American science fiction tv series Babylon 5 (1993-1998, PTEN>TNT). Following a narratological frame, we first explore the dense net of conflicts structuring the fictional world and the series long term and non-linear plot, along with the systematic comparisons to real world conflicts, in the chronological order of the story. We then study the way the series treats subjects such as History, the need to remember the past, or even historiography, through its use of large-scale medias evoking the live coverage of the Gulf War; its denunciation of propaganda; the importance of historical testimonies for the plot; or the treatment of the hero figure summoned by the epic dimension of the text, and then criticized in a reflexive way. It is then possible to test the limits of the series social and political comment, and to underline the cyclic property of History in the fictional world.

Memory as the Driving Force of a quest in "Forgotten Sentinel" and "10 years of solitude" by Bouziane Benachour We propose in this paper to interrogate Benachour’s writings and his report to the memorial writing. The starting point of our discussion will be the articulation of fiction and forms of language involved in the novels of Bouziane Benachour. Furthermore, we will question this subject formulation and especially the new form particularly singular enough of this writing. It seems important at this level to state that the fact of approaching closer these novels showed us some writing processes that we did not realize before. We insista on the fact that these diversed and varied forms have always been parts of the romantic storyof the Maghreb in terms of theme. Put otherwise, this form of writing is problematic in many respects, since it in no way meets the so-called traditional form of the Algerian novel that combines and links the symbol to reality, in novelistic structures dominated by imagination; or space refers to violence broken out of a whole period. For this, we will consider Benachour corpus cases "forgotten Sentinel" and "Ten years of solitude".

This paper aims at studying how the Crusade phenomenon was seen in the East, and its mark on the collective memory. During the twelfth century, the Crusades were gradually understood in its singular way. But it was also considered as an episode of an old confrontation between Islam and Christendom. A memory of the Crusades spread. This memory was mixed with a feeling of aggression and the pride of having resisted through a refocusing on piety and djihad, and through the respect for the established power. After the end of the Crusader states, this memory was enriched with other episodes of the struggle between the Christians and the Muslims. During the Ottoman period, this memory was revived each time the tensions between the Muslims and the Europeans were strong.

This paper traces the paths that led to some reflections on relations involving people and archaeological sites in Huachichocana (Tumbaya department, Jujuy, Argentina). They are part of a larger aim: to achieve an understanding of the local perspectives related to the ' past ' and ' history ' of the place, where relationships with sites are presented as a more other significant relationships that constitute memory and the local landscape. These relationships are defined mainly by the place occupied by families in the definition of spaces (houses, “puestos”, places ), their productive linkages in the context of annual mobility patterns , and the close relationship between them and other ' beings ' : hills , ponds , springs , ravines , mines, and , of course , archaeological sites. All these reflections lead us to consider as essential the relationships of “nurturing” (crianza), so common in the Andean symbolic languages, and also present in Huachichocana.

Copyright of Revue d'Études Comparatives Est-Ouest is the property of Presses Universitaires de France and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)