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CALL. 08.07.2016: Augustan Cultural Memory - Paris (France)


The aim of this project is to place cultural memory centre stage when examining Latin Literature and Culture. Cultural memory is formed by symbolic heritage embodied in texts, rites, monuments, celebrations, objects, sacred scriptures and other media that serve as mnemonic triggers to initiate meanings associated with what has happened. It brings us back to the time of mythical origins, crystallizes collective experiences of the past and often endures for millennia. Therefore it relies on knowledge restricted to initiates. Communicative memory, on the other hand, is limited to the recent past, evokes personal and often autobiographical memories, and is characterized by a short term (80 to 110 years), from three to four generations. Due to its informal character, it does not require expertise on the part of those who transmit it. Seen from this perspective cultural memory allows us to build a narrative picture of the past and through this process develop an image and an identity for ourselves. Therefore, cultural memory preserves the symbolic institutionalized heritage to which individuals resort to build their own identities and to affirm themselves as part of a group. This is possible because the act of remembering involves normative aspects, so that ‘if you want to belong to a community, you must follow the rules of how and what to remember’ (Assmann).


By working as a collective unifying force, cultural memory is considered a hazard by some who aim to make culture a blank slate that makes it possible to start afresh. Others cherish even a traumatic memory as it may help to glue together a group of survivors either by creating a heroic memory or by giving space to the memory of the victims. The umbrella of cultural memory, however, encompasses and interacts with multiple memories such as individual memory (a person remembers his/her past), social memory (memory spoken aloud by a group member and influenced by that member’s place within it), and oikotype (a standardized version of the past adopted by the community) as well as undercurrents such as popular memory (popular retellings modify the original story so that what people believed took place in the past was often quite different from what actually occurred) and vernacular memory (the memory of fringe groups or minorities as opposed to official memory).

FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 08/07/2016

FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 08-09/06/2017

ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Charles Guérin (Université Paris-Est Créteil); Martin Dinter (KCL); Marcos Martinho (University of Sao Paulo)

INFO: call - web - romeculturalmemory@gmail.com

CALL:

We are inviting submissions of abstracts for the second session in Paris (8th - 9th June 2017). Papers will focus on Augustan cultural memory. Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be send to romeculturalmemory@gmail.comby the deadline 8th July 2016.Publication of selected papers is envisaged.

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