The clamor of the past can be deafening: It demands attention through speech, texts, screens, spaces, and commemorative spectacles; it calls on us to settle scores, uncover the truth, and search for justice; it begs for enshrinement in museums and memorials; and it shapes our understanding of the present and the future. But with every act of remembering, something is silenced, suppressed, or forgotten. The inherent selectivity of memory means that for every narrative, representation, image, or sound evoking the past, another has become silent—deliberately forgotten, carelessly omitted, or simply neglected.
This conference addresses the tension between loud, often spectacular aspects of the past and the forgotten pasts we strain to hear. For those in the booming field of memory studies, this tension is especially productive. As the past often serves as a screen on which we project our ambitions and aspirations, what is silenced and what is remembered tell us much about the present and future. The conflict between silence and spectacle also illuminates what has been selected for remembering and why, allows alternative memories and understandings to emerge, reminds us that forgetting is sometimes necessary, and ultimately deepens our understanding of memory and its processes.
Speakers include Marianne Hirsch, professor of comparative literature, Columbia University; Leo Spitzer, professor of history, Dartmouth College; Robin Wagner-Pacifici, professor of sociology, The New School for Social Research; Daniel Levy, professor of sociology, SUNY Stony Brook; Rick Crownshaw, professor of English, Goldsmith College, University of London; Susan Pearce, professor of sociology and anthropology, West Virginia University; Jeffrey Olick, professor of sociology, University of Virginia; Barbie Zelizer, professor of communications, University of Pennsylvania; Louis Bickford of the graduate program in International Affairs, The New School; Cynthia Milton, professor of history, Université de Montréal; Diana Taylor, professor of performance studies and Spanish, NYU.
New York City, NY; NYC