Sep 03, 20 the interdisciplinary field of holocaust studies has always been conceptually isolated from postcolonial and african american studies, due in no small part to the rhetoric of uniqueness that, as michael rothberg points out in multidirectional memory. Michael rothbergs multidirectional memory scholarly commons. On the one hand, it demonstrates how the holocaust has enabled the articulation of other histories of. Therefore it need a free signup process to obtain the book. We will mark the first anniversary of the symposium on memory and countermemory with michael rothberg s presentation, what does it mean to inherit the past. Rothbergs multidirectional memory aims to steer the discussion of memory away from competitive models and find an alterna. Rothberg s multidirectional memory aims to steer the discussion of memory away from competitive models and find an alternative to the constraining logic of analogies. Sep 26, 2014 the model of multidirectional memory posits collective memory as partially disengaged from exclusive versions of cultural identity and acknowledges how remembrance both cuts across and binds together diverse spatial, temporal, and cultural sites. Jan 02, 2010 multidirectional memory serves as the psychocultural counterpart to donald bloxhams recent book, the final solution.
He argues against what he calls competitive memory, an understanding that is based on the logic of the zerosum game and has dominated many popular and scholarly approaches to public remembrance. Rothberg opens with this stark and unfortunately alltoocommon logic of scarcity in order to refute it. Can you remember names, faces, lists, numbers, speeches, dates, examination data. Inspired by walter benjamins concept of the moment of danger, this essay considers the contemporary return of the memory of fascism and nazism among both farright political movements and libera. Meanwhile, scholarship such as michael rothberg s multidirectional memory has argued that holocaust remembrance also has the potential to open up routes for commemorating other contested national pasts. Rothberg s powerful study of the relations between holocaust memory and decolonization illuminates the multidirectional orientation of collective memory through half a century of transnational cultural production in europe, north america, the caribbean and north. Printed in the united states of america on acidfree, archivalquality paper. We use cookies to give you the best possible experience. Rothberg is associate professor of english and director of the unit for criticism and interpretive theory at the. For the purpose of this paper, i will provide a close reading of the embassy of cambodia and i will rely on michael rothberg s theory of multidirectional memory to illustrate how the history of genocide in cambodia and the history of the protagonist of the story, which is effectively one of slavery, conflate in smiths text to bring. Memory studies is an academic field studying the use of memory as a tool for remembering the past. Michael rothberg s multidirectional memory lissa skitolsky, susquehanna university in defending uniqueness, i am not simultaneously endorsing the injudicious claim that the holocaust is more evil than alternative occurrences of extensive and systematic persecution, organized violence, and mass death. While acknowledging the struggles and contestations that accompany public articulations of memory, the theory of multidirectional memory seeks an explanation of the dynamics of remembrance that does not simply. Michael rothberg discussing multidirectional memory and.
As he goes on to explain, his move to a notion of multidirectional memory is all about getting out of this deeply unproductive, competitive, zerosum game of what critical legal theorist martha minow has described as victim talk. Speed memory is a comprehensive memory training course based on recent research. Last years gathering gave birth to lively conversations and new areas of questions about inheritance and transmission of memory. It has been accepted for inclusion in philosophy faculty. Michael rothbergs multidirectional memory lissa skitolsky, susquehanna university in defending uniqueness, i am not simultaneously endorsing the injudicious claim that the holocaust is more evil than alternative occurrences of extensive and systematic persecution, organized violence, and mass death. Andre schwarzbart and caryl phillips on the ruins of memory, in multidirectional memory see note 1, 574. These questions have also oriented my attempt to construct a theory of multidirectional memory that focuses on exemplary sites of tension involving remembrance of the nazi genocide of european jews in order to offer an alternative framework for thinking about and confronting the recent and ongoing memory wars. He argues against what he calls competitive memory, an understanding that is based on the logic of the zerosum game and has dominated many popular and scholarly approaches to. Rothberg s multidirectional memory refuses the ownership of different pasts by different groups, instead it tries to draw attention to the dynamic transfers that take place between diverse places and times during the act of remembrance 2009. Remembering the holocaust in the age of decolonization, has unduly limited the expression of collective memory to a competitive, zerosum. Postcolonialism and the study of antisemitism the american.
Pdf the article addresses the function of postcolonial nostalgia in a context of multidirectional memory rothberg 2009 in contemporary europe. He was the founding director of the initiative in holocaust, genocide, and memory studies at university of illinois at urbanachampaign. A multidirectional memory approach to representations of. Multidirectional memory brings together holocaust studies and postcolonial studies for the first time to put forward a new theory of cultural memory and uncover an unacknowledged tradition of exchange between the legacies of genocide and colonialism. Rothbergs multidirectional memory aims to steer the discussion of memory away from competitive models and. This reference provides text, photographs, charts, maps, and extensive indexes. The development of holocaust memory is the central example of the sort of multidirectional memory that rothberg presents, and he uncovers a history of art and scholarship that acts as a.
Cover of multidirectional memory by michael rothberg. Michael rothberg is professor of english and conrad humanities scholar at the university. This is nitmes michael rothberg ucla on multidirectional memory, interview with ann rigney utrecht university by humanities uu on vimeo, the home. Rothberg s powerful study of the relations between holocaust memory and decolonization illuminates the multidirectional orientation of collective memory through half a century of transnational cultural production in europe, north america, the caribbean and north africa with an emphasis on postwar france. Mapping multidirectional memory 541 will take more than the work of multidirectional memory, but without changing the way we think about the past it will be difficult to imagine an alternative future. The term multidirectional memory was coined as a way of conceptualizing what happens when different histories of extreme violence confront each other in the public sphere.
Rothbergs multidirectional memory refuses the ownership of different pasts by different groups, instead it tries to draw attention to the dynamic transfers that take place between diverse places and times during the act of remembrance 2009. Remembering the holocaust in the age of decolonization michael rothberg multidirectional memory brings together holocaust studies and postcolonial studies for the first time to put forward a new theory of cultural memory and uncover an unacknowledged tradition of. Remembering the holocaust in the age of decolonization cultural memory in the present michael rothberg isbn. Employing a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, the book makes a twofold argument about. Remembering the holocaust in the age of decolonization. Full text views reflects the number of pdf downloads, pdfs sent. The ones marked may be different from the article in the profile. From 20012016 he taught at the university of illinois at urbanachampaign, first as associate professor and then as professor of english. Pdf on jun 1, 2012, harold marcuse and others published michael rothberg. Rothbergs powerful study of the relations between holocaust memory and decolonization illuminates the multidirectional orientation of collective memory through half a century of transnational cultural production in europe, north america, the caribbean and north africa with an emphasis on postwar france. Welcome,you are looking at books for reading, the memory, you will able to read or download in pdf or epub books and notice some of author may have lock the live reading for some of country. Multidirectional memory and the universalization of the. Michael rothberg is the author of multidirectional memory 4.
Young this dissertation explores where historical memories concerning colonization, genocide, and racism intersect, merge, and overlap in multidirectional ways. Michael rothberg is an american holocaust historian and memory studies scholar. The development of holocaust memory is the central example of the sort of multidirectional memory that rothberg presents, and he uncovers a history of art and scholarship that acts as a sort of countertradition. Multidirectional memory brings together holocaust studies and postcolonial studies for the first time. The event brought together scholars, writers, and activists from holocaust studies, indigenous and decolonial studies, trauma studies, and memorial and memoir projects. Thinking through and beyond competitive memory and. Engaging with debates about the future of the discipline of memory studies, this essay explores recent calls to pay attention to transnational discourses of cultural memory, in this case how the diaspora space forged by the presence of chilean exiles living in the united kingdom has produced new mobile memory landscapes for remembering. Remembering the holocaust in the age of decolonization, stanford. It emerged as a new and different way for scholars to think about past events at the end of the 20th century.
Learn about over 1,000 camps and ghettos in volume i and ii of this encyclopedia, which are available as a free pdf download. The text opens by exploring the possibilities of using a multidirectional model of world history and then moves to a discussion of certain aspects of world political history that interrogates why some. Pdf multidirectional memory and verwobene geschichten. Because analogies compare nonidentical objects, their equations are inevitably imperfect. For more on the schwarzbart case, see rothberg, anachronistic aesthetics. To analyse the dynamics between postwar and postcolonial memory in the netherlands, we take a multidirectional approach as proposed by michael rothberg. Michael rothberg discusses his work on the implicated subject during an online seminar hosted by the university of leeds. Nitmes michael rothberg ucla on multidirectional memory. Rothberg engages with both wellknown and noncanonical.
In multidirectional memory, he offers a new framework for thinking about memory contestation via three core arguments. Michael rothbergs concept of multidirectional memory implies the juxtaposition of two or more disturbing memories that work dialogically to bring together different histories of suffering, and is based on an ethics of comparison that can distinguish politically productive forms of memory from those that lead to competition, appropriation. Rothenburg points out that screen memory can be thought of as multidirectional instead of competitive because it both hides and reveals that which has been suppressed 14. This transnational decolonial feminist work takes the gendered and racialized body and intimate sexual appropriation as a ground for a multidirectional colonial memory, thereby providing an alternative to the dominant holocaust paradigm and its idiom of human rights.
Jul 24, 2015 freud argues that the structure of memory itself is multidirectional, making connections and displacements and subsitutions. A genocide 2009, insofar as rothberg explains how comparative genocide is even possible. This cited by count includes citations to the following articles in scholar. Remembering the holocaust in the age of decolonization cultural memory in the present at. For the purpose of this paper, i will provide a close reading of the embassy of cambodia and i will rely on michael rothbergs theory of multidirectional memory to illustrate how the history of genocide in cambodia and the history of the protagonist of the story, which is effectively one of slavery, conflate in smiths text to bring. Michael rothberg s concept of multidirectional memory implies the juxtaposition of two or more disturbing memories that work dialogically to bring together different histories of suffering, and is based on an ethics of comparison that can distinguish politically productive forms of memory from those that lead to competition, appropriation. Rothberg rejects the idea that collective memory obeys a logic of scar. Oct 04, 2018 rothberg, on the other hand, distances himself from arendts historicism by drawing on memory and trauma studies, which were developed mainly within holocaust studies, so as to define multidirectional memory as a countertradition in which remembrance of the holocaust intersects with the legacies of colonialism and slavery and ongoing. Michael rothberg multidirectional memory the last one. Durass article approaches the massacre in roundabout fashion, through a. Remembering the holocaust in the age of decolonization stanford, ca. Michael rothberg multidirectional memory brings together holocaust studies and postcolonial studies for the first time. Edited by manuela bauche and sharon dodua otoo, the issue, geschichte schreiben writing history, was dedicated. Locating transnational memory volume 22 issue 4 michael rothberg.
Pierre noras concept of site of memory 1984, 1989 and michael rothberg s work on multidirectional memory 2009 will lead an investigation which focuses on two documentary films. Employing a comparative and interdisciplinary approach, the book makes a twofold argument about holocaust memory in a global age by situating it in the unexpected context of decolonization. Discover book depositorys huge selection of michael rothberg books online. The model of multidirectional memory posits collective memory as partially disengaged from exclusive versions of cultural identity and acknowledges how remembrance both cuts across and binds together diverse spatial, temporal, and cultural sites. Marguerite durass les deux ghettos employs an aesthetic of juxtaposition. Jun 15, 2009 multidirectional memory brings together holocaust studies and postcolonial studies for the first time. First, i argue against what i call competitive memory, an understanding that is based on the logic of the zerosum game and has dominated many popular and scholarly approaches to public remembrance. As you work through the book, you graduate from simple methods to highly advanced systems increasing your memory power all the time. This conversation between the german critical race theorist iman attia and the american memory studies scholar michael rothberg originally appeared in german in a special issue of the journal neue rundschau 190. On the warsaw ghetto boy, see richard raskin, a child at gunpoint. Following michael rothbergs conceptualization of multidirectional memory beyond competitive memory, this article presents an archive for comparative work through a data set of novels on. Remembering the holocaust in the age of decolonization stanford. Multidirectional memory brings together holocaust studies and postcolonial.
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