B8817 - Semiotics and Memory Studies (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will know the main theories of social, collective and cultural memory, framed within a culturological and semiotic perspective, and will be able to move within the field of memory studies. The student will also acquire the skills and critical tools to interpret memorial processes from a semiotic perspective.

Course contents

Memory studies is a relatively young academic field that aims at an interdisciplinary study of collective forms of remembering and of processes of construction, transmission, and "invention" of the past in contemporary societies and in contexts characterised by an inherent "semiotic complexity". At the same time, memory studies is often in constant dialogue with other disciplines dealing with memory (philosophy, sociology, psychology, semiotics, cognitive science, anthropology, history, archaeology, etc.).

The course will introduce and critically discuss the current debate in the field of memory studies, considering the main issues and questions from a semiotic perspective. Starting from a critical discussion of the concept of collective memory, the various "discursive arenas" (media discourse, historical discourse, legal discourse, political discourse, artistic discourse...) that shape shared - as well as individual - memories (and consequently collective and individual identities) will be highlighted.

Week 1, The Field of Memory Studies:

1. What is memory? Key concepts and debates
2. Collective vs cultural memory
3. Methodological challenges and critiques
4. Memory as a social and interdisciplinary construct

Week 2; Memory and Oblivion in Culture

• Memory as a cultural system (semiotic perspective)
• Mechanisms of remembering and forgetting
• Oblivion, selection, and cultural transmission
• Memory as filtering, latency, and loss

Week 3, Semiotic Models and Case Studies

• Semiotic approaches to memory (Lotman, Eco, cultural semiotics)
• Memory, space, and trauma
• Case studies of memory narratives and identity
• Memory as meaning-making practice

Week 4, Narratives of Memory

• Memory as narrative structure
• Postmemory, multidirectional and prosthetic memory
• Intergenerational transmission
• Narrative models of remembering and identity

Week 5, Memory, Power and Archives

• Memory and power: who controls the past?
• The archive as system and authority
• From cultural archives to digital memory
• Transformation of memory in the digital age

Readings/Bibliography

The reading of some texts (as indicated) is mandatory. The others constitute reading paths that will be explored during the lectures. Each student will be able to select their own bibliography according to the topic of their paper.

The field of memory studies (mandatory readings)

• Erll, A., Memory in Culture, New York: Palgrave, 2011 (chapter 2 and 3)
• Mazzucchelli, F. (2023) Italian Semiotics of Memory: Genealogies and Current Perspectives, «ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR SEMIOTIK», 44, pp. 49 - 82.
• Olick, J. K. (1999). Collective Memory: The Two Cultures. Sociological Theory, 17(3), 333-348.
• Kansteiner, W. (2002), Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies. History and Theory, 41: 179-197. https://doi.org/10.1111/0018-2656.00198
• Connerton, P. (1989) How societies remember, from Olick, Vinitzky-Serouss, Levy (eds.) (2011) The collective memory reader,

Memory and oblivion in culture (mandatory readings)

• Lotman, J. (2019) Culture, Memory and History. Essays in Cultural Semiotics (Edited by Marek Tamm), Palgrave Macmillan
• Connerton, P. (2008). Seven types of forgetting. Memory Studies, 1(1), 59-71.
• Eco, U. (1988) “An Ars Oblivionalis? Forget it!”, in PMLA, Vol.103, n.3, 254-261.
• Weinrich, H, from Lethe: The Art and Critique of Forgetting, in Olick, Vinitzky-Serouss, Levy (eds.) (2011) The collective memory reader

Semiotics models for memory and case studies (to be read during class)

• Violi, P. (2017). Landscapes of Memory. Trauma, Space, History. Peter Lang Verlag (chapter 6 and 7)
• Lorusso, A.M. (2015) Cultural semiotics. For a cultural perspective in semiotics. Palgrave Macmillan (pp. 98-115).
• C.Demaria, M. Panico (2022). Remembering the other, repositioning oneself. The right to a biography and autocommunication in perpetrator and collaborator descendant documentaries. SOCIAL SEMIOTICS, 5(32), 689-707

Narratives of memory: Postmemory, multidirectional memory, prosthetic memories (to be read during class)

• Greimas, A. (1989) “Elements of a narrative grammar”, from On meaning, selected writings in semiotics theory
• Ricoeur, P. from "Memory—History—Forgetting", in Olick, Vinitzky-Serouss, Levy (eds.) (2011) The collective memory reader
• Rothberg, M. from Multidirectional Memory. Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization, Stanford University Press.
• Hirsch, M from "The Generation of Postmemory", in Olick, Vinitzky-Serouss, Levy (eds.) (2011) The collective memory reader
• Rothberg, M. Introduction: From Victims and Perpetrators to Implicated Subjects
• Huyssen, A., from "Present Pasts: Media, Politics, Amnesia" in Olick, Vinitzky-Serouss, Levy (eds.) (2011) The collective memory reader
• Landsberg (2004) Introduction and chapter 1 Prosthetic Memory. The Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture

Memory, power and archives (to be read during class)

• Foucault, M extracts from The Archeology of Knowledge (1969)
• Derrida, J. extracts from Archive fever. A Freudian impression (1995)
• Assmann, A. (2008) “Canon and Archive”. In: Erll, A.; Nünning, A. (eds.), A companion to cultural memory studies, Berlin, New York: De Gruyter
• Van Dijck, J (2007) “Introduction”, in Mediated Memories in the Digital Age
• Ernst, W (2013) Introduction to Digital Memory and the Archive
• Hoskins A. (2018) “Introduction” to Digital Memory Studies: Media Pasts in Transition

Other texts will be suggested by the teacher along the course

Teaching methods

The course is articulated in frontal lessons with presentations and other materials that will be made available to students through Virtuale.

Collective discussions, analysis and tests are essential part of the course. Students are expected to participate actively to class discussions and attendance is highly recommended.

Assessment methods

The exam will consist of a paper which will be discussed with the teacher in an oral exam, in which the student will be asked to defend the research hypothesis and the analysis carried out in the paper. The exam is aimed at assessing the understanding of the readings of the course and the capacity to apply this knowledge in the analysis of cultural memory issues.

Papers are expected to be between 4000 and 6000 words and have to be handed to the teacher at least 7 days before the date of the oral discussion. Final papers may be based on collective work in a group, and in this case their total length must be proportional to the number of people participating in the group.

Students who will not attend the course will have to present a paper of the same length on a topic previously agreed upon with the professor, and an oral examination on three of the papers from the reading list.

Discussions and presentations with students will be scheduled during the course for attending students.

Students with disabilities and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders are entitled to special adjustments according to their condition, subject to assessment by the University Service for Students with Disabilities and SLD. Please do not contact teachers or Department staff, but make an appointment with the Service. The Service will then determine what adjustments are specifically appropriate, and get in touch with the teacher. For more information, please visit the page:
https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Teaching tools

Multimedial equipment of the class.

Slides and other teaching materials will be made available on "Virtuale".

Links to further information

https://centri.unibo.it/trame/

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Mazzucchelli