Public Forgetting The Rhetoric and Politics of Beginning Again

“In his sustained meditation on forgetting, Bradford Vivian makes a singular and extremely valuable contribution to the field of memory studies. He substantially advances the theoretical discussion of memory and forgetting with his extended critiques (rhetorical analyses, really) of both ancient and recent formulations of collective public memory and forgetting. The conclusion is almost poetic in its lightness of touch. It pulls all the strands of the book into a single compelling case for forgetting as part of memory.” —James E. Young, University of Massachusetts Amherst, author of The Texture of Memory and At Memory's Edge.

Book Promo: Public Forgetting: The Rhetoric and Politics of Beginning Again

Facebook Page: Public Forgetting: The Rhetoric and Politics of Beginning Again

Memory/Memoria and Music(a)

Corridos in Migrant Memory

by

Martha I Chew Sanchez

Press Release about Corridos in Migrant Memory

Book Review by Maria Herrera-Sobek

New Books About Memory/Memoria

Brewer, Joseph E., Manzur Gill, eds. Nonvolatile Memory Technologies with Emphasis on Flash : A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Using Flash Memory Devices. New York: 2008.

Howes, Mary B. Human Memory: Structures and Images. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, 2007.

Kliegel, Matthias, Mark A. McDaniel, Gilles O. Einstein, eds. Prospective Memory: Cognitive, Neuroscience, Developmental, and Applied Perspectives. New York : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2008.

Strong-Wilson, Teresa. Bringing Memory Forward: Storied Remembrance in Social Justice Education with Teachers. New York: Peter Lang, 2008.

Mind Maps/Cognitive Mapping

After reading Frederic Jameson’s discussion about the “aesthetic of cognitive mapping” in “Postmodernism or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism,” I have been prompted to research the relationship between memory and space which, in a sense, has made me re-visit the historical use of mnemonics—which were the topics of my early posts on this blog when I discussed Frances Yates' The Art of Memory.

In addition, to researching cognitive maps, I found the following list of benefits of mnemonic mind maps featured in Tony and Barry Bazan’s The Mind Map Book.

"The benefits of mnemonic mind maps:

1. They utilize all the cortical skills, thereby enormously enhancing the probability of recall.

2. They activate the brain on all levels, making it more alert and skillful at remembering.

3. Their attractiveness makes the brain want to return to them, and again encourages the probability of spontaneous recall.

4. They are intrinsically designed to aid memory.

5. The use of the memory Mind Maps activates the brain to become mnemonically alert and thus with each usage increases the base memory skill level.

6. They reflect the creative thinking process, thereby simultaneously enhancing creative thinking skills.

7. They maintain a high level of recall through a learning or listening period.

8. They utilize all the individuals associative capabilities, enhancing the brain’s physical imprinting and network-making capabilities, and therefore increasing the probability of recall.

9. They provide a “sure fire” method of remembering, thus increasing the individual’s confidence, motivation and general mental functioning." (150, 152)

The strategic use of words is quite scientific here: “utilize,” “cortical,” “skills,” “enhancing,” “recall,” “skillful,” “alert,” “level,” “associative,” “imprinting,” and “functioning”.

What appeals to me here is the emphasis on the relationship between mind maps and creativity. I find it quite intellectual useful to think about the relationship between memory and creativity, which then makes me puzzle over the role of imagination within the context of remembering. Does imagination complicate memory by decentering its supposed “stability” or “objectivity” by what is imagined in the act of remembering? Also, I’ve been thinking about how memory interacts with creativity within the context of space in creating mind maps. All of these ideas and questions take me back to an examination of mnemonics.

Do mind maps help you remember?

Mind maps featured here are featured in Tony and Barry Bazan's The Mind Map Book (Penguin Books, 1994)

"Discussing History and Representation: Rememembering and Reconstructing the Experiences of Slavery and the Slave Trade"

The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples

"Discussing History and Representation: Remembering and Reconstructing the Experiences of Slavery and the Slave Trade"

to be held at the 123rd American Historical Association Annual Meeting
New York City, 2 – 5, January 2009

Organizers:

Paul E. Lovejoy (Director, Tubman Institute, York University)

Ana Lucia Araujo (Post-Doctoral Fellow, Tubman Institute, York University)

"In the last twenty years, the experiences of capture, enslavement, deportation, and life under slavery have been the focus of novels, films and works of art. The historical understanding of the forced global migrations of African peoples as depicted in these genres requires comparison in different historical contexts, including: a) the ways in which trans-Atlantic slavery from the 16th-19th centuries has been interpreted; b) the depiction of slavery in the Islamic world of North Africa and the Middle East; and c) the views of slavery in the Indian Ocean global world system.Admittedly, the experiences of people in these different contexts varied, and not all of those who were enslaved in these different settings were Africans – in the Americas, the enslavement of Amerindians has also been subjected to various forms of representation, while in the Islamic world and the broader Indian Ocean region, many other peoples were enslaved besides Africans. The extent of enslavement of native peoples in the Americas as well as in parts of Europe and Asia requires a reconsideration of the ways in which Africans and people of African descent have been represented in various artistic, cultural and intellectual genres. The centrality of slavery in all parts of these regions, not just in the Americas, requires comparison. The purpose of this workshop is to consider how the various historical actors have been represented, whether slaves, ship captains, market officials, merchants, plantation managers, concubines in harems, or members of royalty. This workshop aims to explore the forms of representation as a means of focusing on the multiple experiences of slavery. Participants are asked to review the strengths and weaknesses of using archival documentation, as well as travel accounts, films, images, art, music, novels, monuments and artifacts, in the reconstruction of our understanding of the experiences of slavery. Can an examination of the different voices that emerge from such representations help in exposing the experiences of the multiple actors involved in slavery and the slave trade?It is our hypothesis that notions of history and memory can be better understand through a dialogue over the interpretations of archival data, «fictionalized » works of art and literature, and stereotypes of public discourse that have emerged with renewed interest in slavery issues."

Noteworthy Sources on Memory from CompPile

I recently found the following sources through CompPile which I think are noteworthy:

Hayes, John R., N. Ann Chenoweth. “Working Memory in an Editing Task” Written Communication 24.4 (2007): 283-294.

Kellogg, Ronald T., Thierry Olive, Annie Piolat. "Verbal and Visual Working Memory in Written Sentence Production" in Writing and Cognition: Research and Applications. Mark Torrance, Luuk van Waes, David Galbraith (Eds.). Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2007. 97-108.

Minchin, Elizabeth. Homeric Voices: Discourse, Memory, Gender. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Gonzalez, Catalina. "Vico's Institutiones Oratoriae: Acumen, Memory, and the Imaginative Universals" in Rhetorical Agendas: Political, Ethical, Spiritual (Proceedings of the 11th biennial conference of the Rhetoric Society of America, May 28-31, 2004, Austin Texas), Patricia Bizzell, ed. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. 77-85.

Memory Studies as an Academic Discipline

The first issue of Memory Studies (SAGE Publications) is currently available. Some noteworthy articles include:

Henry L. Roediger, III and James V. Wertsch, "Creating a New Discipline of Memory Studies"

Susannah Radstone, "Memory Studies: For and Against"

Paul Connerton, "Seven Types of Forgetting"

Ann Rigney, "Divided Pasts: A Premature Memorial and the Dynamics of Collective Remembrance"

"The Rhetoric of Sentimental Memory"

The web page for "The Rhetoric of Sentimental Memory," a Communications course at the University of Minnesota, features some excellent readings, which you can download using Adobe Acrobat. I would like to know who teaches this course!

Enjoy!

Paving the Way for Memory Lane

Suggestions for improving memory, according to Dr. Maoshing Ni, founder and Chancellor of the Yo San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Los Angeles:

Get an uninterrupted eight hours of sleep each night.

Do a half an hour of cardiovascular exercise every day, such as brisk walking, slow jogging, biking, or swimming. This will improve circulation and increase blood flow to the brain.

Turn yourself upside down for a couple of minutes daily.

Mental fitness activities are imperative to prevent age-related cognitive decline. Read and learn new things, find new hobbies, do crossword puzzles, add up your bill in your head while shopping, memorize a set of phone numbers forward and backwards; all these can stimulate brain cell activities and in some cases even grow new brain pathways.

Work with your physician to find a supplemental regimen that helps improve your cognitive capabilities. Memory-enhancing supplements and herbs include B-complex vitamins, magnesium, CoQ10, alpha-lipoic acid, fish oil, flax seed oil, Chinese club moss, ginkgo, and ginseng. A supplement that has been well-documented in Europe for reversing age-related dementia and memory loss is phosphatidylserine (PS), a compound made by the body from the amino acid serine. Taken in supplement form, PS lowers stress response and promotes the release of neurotransmitters in the brain that facilitate thought, reasoning, and concentration.

Memory and Monuments

Memory and Monuments: Commemorating and Confronting History on the U.S.-Mexico Border

This week, UTEP kicked off "Memory and Monuments: Commemorating and Confronting History on the U.S.-Mexico Border" (see hyperlink above), a series of presentations, exhibits and panel discussions on the significance of monuments in the history of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands.

Muy interesante!

Katherine E. Gossett's "The Forgotten Canon: Memory in a Digital Age"

Check out Gossett's "THE FORGOTTEN CANON:
MEMORY IN A DIGITAL AGE"

http://www2.english.uiuc.edu/405-2000/Gossett/thesis.htm

Speaking on the Fly -- Memory from "Rhetorica"

Here is a definition of Memory from "Rhetorica":

http://www.rhetorica.net/textbook/index.htm

"Memory"

"To speak extemporaneously.

The ancient Greeks thought that reading a speech from a text was sign of a poor rhetor. And a poor rhetor was an ineffective politician. A citizen might hire a logographer to write a speech, but the citizen would then memorize it for delivery.

In addition, the systems of classical rhetoric were designed to be used on the fly. Several of the famous Sophists used to entertain crowds by expounding upon any given subject extemporaneously. The canon of memory helped them retain and marshal set bits of argument as well as whole discourses.

Modern rhetors no longer rely on the canon of memory. We have computers and Tele-Prompt-Rs to help us deliver effective addresses. The ability to sustain an effective extemporaneous speech has been largely lost except to those rare individuals who have a natural talent for speaking on the fly."

3 Stumbling Blocks To Fully Using Memory

The following is an interesting article about the three reasons, or "three stumbling blocks," that prevent most people from fully exercising their memory in order to memorize a massive amount of info. This article is, once again, making me think about the difference between memorizing and remembering, as well as the difference between artificial and natural memory. Check it out: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Kasibhatla1.html






This week, I read Cheryl Glen's book "Unspoken," which makes the claim that silence is a rhetorical art which has rich and deep meaning with regard to human communication. Glen emphasizes that a significant rhetorical meaning should be placed on silence, which doesn't always connote passitivity nor submission. Instead, silence can have a variety of meanings such as resistance, meditation, emptiness, respect, loyalty and a devotion to thinking before speaking.

After reading the book, I closely observed how much memory plays an important role in much of what she examines with regard to silence as resistance. For instance, silence as resistance functions within the context of a rhetoric of "forgetting" when and where significant and critical information is said to be forgotten by a subject in order for him/her to keep silent. It's almost as if saying that without memory, the person cannot fully communicate within a given situation. Therefore, "forgetting" reinforces silence. I keep thinking that there is a complete communication breakdown when the essence of forgetting appears in a given situation.

Also, Glen's book was useful to me in terms of emphasizing how memories shape the narratives that counter this "grand master narrative" that allows a subaltern to unsilence herself/himself from a racist and colonial past, especially with regard to Native Americans.

So, given this observation, I could envision an article where I examine how Native American writers such as Leslie Marmon Silko, Simon Ortiz, Sherman Alexie, Linda Hogan, and Joy Harjo use memory to shape their narratives. This would be a wonderful addition to my dissertation proposal.

This weekend should be enjoyed watching "The Forgotten" with the ever-so talented Julianne Moore. Also, stay tuned for more of my discussion about Frances Yates and "The Art of Memory"

Another Online Syllabus on Memoria

Check out Christopher Kelty's online syllabus to his course titled "Abracadabra: Language, Memory, Representation" at Rice:

http://smatter.rice.edu/375/index.html