Saturday, November 5th, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Parsons The New School For Design
Theresa Lang Student Center
55 West 13th Street, 2nd Floor
Registration fee is $20 regular / $10 for students
The word “memory” can instantly evoke positive emotions, or the opposite: it can stir a desire to forget. The sharp contrast between these two possible reactions to the idea of memory shows how subjective an individual’s recollection is, depending on one’s perspective or personal history; how an event or idea is remembered, the memory of that event or idea can drastically change. It can vary even more depending on one’s relation to a larger group, or perhaps the largest group: the public.
These ideas are only scratching the surface of what the New York Metro American Studies Association (NYMASA) plans to fully delve into with their annual conference in November, as this year’s theme is Memory. Divided into two tracks, Situated Memories and Affective Memories, the conference, hosted and co-sponsored by ADHT, will feature a day-long forum of discussions and roundtables with scholars from all disciplines in the New York area. In addition to discussing how personal memory and public memory merge and diverge, topics like what the role of “the public” is in shaping the commemorative process, especially when trauma is involved, will also be dissected. Additional related topics to be asked and addressed include: How do public commemorations create and transform our narratives of the past? What is the relationship between history, memory, and heritage? Are the contours of some events or memories untellable, unknowable? How does history gets used, even invented, as a narrative, to justify actions and to make history?
For a full and detailed schedule of events, please follow the link here.
