This project considers the memoir as a space that offers multiple memories and histories, allowing the rethinking of a perceived meta-narrative of Canadian history. By reading marginalized voices and generational silences in Maria Campbell's Halfbreed and Joy Kogawa's Obasan as testimonies of alternate Canadian histories, this project challenges normative ideas of Canadian identity and history that privilege the colonial, Eurocentric subject. Further, I consider how including memoir in the pedagogical space combats normalized racism and "othering" in Canada. I argue that calling Canadian students to bear witness to memories deemed "forgettable" in a national context opens the possibility of rethinking notions of "Canadian" history and identity. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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As editor of the ballad collection Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802-3), Walter Scott sought to salvage and preserve the cultural memory of the Border region, rescuing “popular superstitions, and legendary history, which, if not now collected, must soon have been totally forgotten” (MSB 1802; 1: cix). Scott’s endeavour was inspired by the movement towards cultural nationalism, which in Scotland, as in a wider European context, saw interest in traditional material reinvigorated by a widespread zeal to recover, polish and publish ‘relics’ of localised, oral culture perceived to be threatened by the rapid march of modernity. This thesis is a study on the theme of memory in the Minstrelsy. Under examination are the personal and cultural memories from which Scott synthesised his seminal ballad collection, as well as the internal memorial dynamics of the Minstrelsy itself. The social, material and mental dimensions of Posner’s semiotic model of culture (Posner 1991), may also be seen to constitute the three main components of the term ‘cultural memory’, a metaphor for the memorial symbols and practices through which social groups define and maintain their cultural identity. A recent definition of the term interprets cultural memory as “the sum of all processes […] which are involved in the interplay of past and present within sociocultural contexts” (Erll 2011: 101). The Minstrelsy is a composite text in which ballad versions gathered from a range of oral and written sources are framed by Scott’s editorial commentary. This convergence of media means that the collection itself may be understood as a memorial, or ‘site of memory’ which symbolises a particular version of the past (Nora 1989). Through the editorial commentary, Scott was able to negotiate the transmission of cultural knowledge concerning the past of the Borders as well as the wider Scottish nation. The aims of this research are twofold. The first is to achieve a deeper understanding of the cultural contexts surrounding the creation of the Minstrelsy. The second is to contribute to the swiftly developing area of cultural memory studies through a focus on the editorial interpretation of oral tradition in the case of this canonical ballad collection. To this end, memoirs, correspondence and ballad manuscripts are drawn upon to investigate the layered memory culture of traditional songs, narratives, images and places through which Scott sifted during the compilation of the collection. The thesis is structured to represent a gradual widening in scope from the personal to the collective, throughout which it is argued that Scott’s editing of the Minstrelsy may be aligned with a mediated memorial practice that actively shapes the identity of the culture which he as editor sought to preserve.

This thesis examines the problematic status and functioning of memory in a variety of contemporary contexts such as judicial cases, popular culture, television, memorials and museums. In doing this it develops an account of the culture of postmemory, originally defined by Marianne Hirsch as the experience of descendents of survivors of trauma, particularly second generation Holocaust survivors, who inherit that trauma from their family forbears. From Hirsch, postmemory can be understood as the possibility of remembering an event that one has not actually experienced. This thesis extends Hirsch???s notion of postmemory to account for a wider range of contemporary memory practices. These occur beyond family relationships to manifest in institutional and discursive sites such as the archive, the museum, the narrative and the tourist attraction. This thesis argues that it is in these sites that memory can be seen to be breaking away from its referential function. Instead of recollection, memory becomes the performance of slippage and the undoing of reference in which the fictive and the historical merge. The thesis plays out the ensuing crisis in recollection in scenes and actions of a theatre of the postmemorial ??? one characterised less by the familiar linear narratives of memory as by multiple and contradictory narratives formed through the operations of chance, reflexivity and ambivalence working within the contemporary cultural sphere. Performing Postmemories re-imagines the performances of contemporary memory culture and examines its master texts.

The main interest of this thesis lies in the analysis of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), as it is represented in movies. The times before and after the Cold War period in Germany have often been discussed in both literature as well as movies. However, most academic essays which focus on how this time is remembered by current societies are analyzing literature rather than movies. Most analyses of film neglect the exploration of cultural memory, even though there are a variety of different film genres that deal with this topic. This paper will fill this gap in film research by showing that movies set in the GDR can help to convey a cultural memory just as much as literature. The diversity of movies set in the GDR is great: many movies tell sad and serious stories about families under government surveillance, or of people who were killed by trying to escape to West-Germany. This thesis however, focuses on films with humorous aspects. Although most film reviewers criticise comedies about the GDR as being purely nostalgic, this thesis shows that the humour used in specific movies is able to collect a memory and therefore, can be seen as a vehicle of cultural memory. The movies Sonnenallee directed by Leander Haußmann and Good Bye Lenin! directed by Wolfgang Becker are analyzed in this paper because they are comparable insofar that they both show the GDR from a youthful point of view from different time periods. Sonnenallee takes place in the 70ies and therefore, 20 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Good Bye Lenin?, in contrast, covers both the time before and after the fall of the wall. Another reason for selecting these movies is the fact that they are criticized for only portraying the clichés and stereotypes of East-German-figures, which should be reproved. The first part of the thesis explains the theory and main arguments of Aleida and Jan Assmann’s concept of cultural memory. In order to reconstruct their train of thought, it is necessary to summarize the work of their predecessors Maurice Halbwachs, Aby Warburg, and Pierre Nora. The second part moves on to discuss the term ‘Erinnerungs-film’, coined by Astrid Erll, whose main research interest lies in understanding the dif-ferent kinds of memories occurring in movies. The following chapter focuses on the use of comedy in the selected films, as it is important to understand how humorous scenes are created in those movies. The main part of the thesis is the analysis of Sonnenallee and Good Bye Lenin! found in chapter five. Two different types of approaches are chosen: first, a comparison between Haußmann’s movie Sonnenallee and Thomas Brussig’s book Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee, and then a picture-sound-analysis of selected scenes from Becker’s movie Good bye Lenin!. The comparison shows the advantages that the movie has over the book in terms of displaying humour as a means to convey cultural memory. The inter-pretation part of the thesis shows how funny scenes can be critically interpreted and found to be useful in creating cultural memory rather than putting them down as purely nostalgic.

The main interest of this thesis lies in the analysis of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), as it is represented in movies. The times before and after the Cold War period in Germany have often been discussed in both literature as well as movies. However, most academic essays which focus on how this time is remembered by current societies are analyzing literature rather than movies. Most analyses of film neglect the exploration of cultural memory, even though there are a variety of different film genres that deal with this topic. This paper will fill this gap in film research by showing that movies set in the GDR can help to convey a cultural memory just as much as literature. The diversity of movies set in the GDR is great: many movies tell sad and serious stories about families under government surveillance, or of people who were killed by trying to escape to West-Germany. This thesis however, focuses on films with humorous aspects. Although most film reviewers criticise comedies about the GDR as being purely nostalgic, this thesis shows that the humour used in specific movies is able to collect a memory and therefore, can be seen as a vehicle of cultural memory. The movies Sonnenallee directed by Leander Haußmann and Good Bye Lenin! directed by Wolfgang Becker are analyzed in this paper because they are comparable insofar that they both show the GDR from a youthful point of view from different time periods. Sonnenallee takes place in the 70ies and therefore, 20 years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Good Bye Lenin?, in contrast, covers both the time before and after the fall of the wall. Another reason for selecting these movies is the fact that they are criticized for only portraying the clichés and stereotypes of East-German-figures, which should be reproved. The first part of the thesis explains the theory and main arguments of Aleida and Jan Assmann’s concept of cultural memory. In order to reconstruct their train of thought, it is necessary to summarize the work of their predecessors Maurice Halbwachs, Aby Warburg, and Pierre Nora. The second part moves on to discuss the term ‘Erinnerungs-film’, coined by Astrid Erll, whose main research interest lies in understanding the dif-ferent kinds of memories occurring in movies. The following chapter focuses on the use of comedy in the selected films, as it is important to understand how humorous scenes are created in those movies. The main part of the thesis is the analysis of Sonnenallee and Good Bye Lenin! found in chapter five. Two different types of approaches are chosen: first, a comparison between Haußmann’s movie Sonnenallee and Thomas Brussig’s book Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee, and then a picture-sound-analysis of selected scenes from Becker’s movie Good bye Lenin!. The comparison shows the advantages that the movie has over the book in terms of displaying humour as a means to convey cultural memory. The inter-pretation part of the thesis shows how funny scenes can be critically interpreted and found to be useful in creating cultural memory rather than putting them down as purely nostalgic.

No description available.

The U.S. farm populace is declining rapidly, and the majority of Americans are generations removed from food and fiber production. Society now receives the majority of its information about agriculture-related topics from sources removed from the industry itself, including entertainment media such as films and television programs. To better understand how these entertainment media influence societal perceptions of the food and fiber industry, the researcher sought to explicate the content of entertainment media texts related to agricultural production and to compare that content to previously recorded public perceptions of the industry. Using themes outlined by the Kellogg Foundation’s 2002 survey of perceptions of rural life—the pastoral fantasy, the traditional family farm, and the decline of the agrarian tradition—a social semiotic content analysis of 23 films and television programs released between 1950 and 2012 was conducted to identify parallels between the content of those media texts and the findings of the Kellogg study. Films and television programs released between 1950 and 1990 contained narrative and visual elements that closely linked those texts to the three themes identified by the Kellogg researchers, indicating that those perceptual elements could have been influenced by pervasive images of traditional agricultural production practices. Films and programs released after 1990 also contained components strongly tying them to the Kellogg study themes with added emphasis on the decline of the agrarian tradition theme.

This thesis examines the problematic status and functioning of memory in a variety of contemporary contexts such as judicial cases, popular culture, television, memorials and museums. In doing this it develops an account of the culture of postmemory, originally defined by Marianne Hirsch as the experience of descendents of survivors of trauma, particularly second generation Holocaust survivors, who inherit that trauma from their family forbears. From Hirsch, postmemory can be understood as the possibility of remembering an event that one has not actually experienced. This thesis extends Hirsch???s notion of postmemory to account for a wider range of contemporary memory practices. These occur beyond family relationships to manifest in institutional and discursive sites such as the archive, the museum, the narrative and the tourist attraction. This thesis argues that it is in these sites that memory can be seen to be breaking away from its referential function. Instead of recollection, memory becomes the performance of slippage and the undoing of reference in which the fictive and the historical merge. The thesis plays out the ensuing crisis in recollection in scenes and actions of a theatre of the postmemorial ??? one characterised less by the familiar linear narratives of memory as by multiple and contradictory narratives formed through the operations of chance, reflexivity and ambivalence working within the contemporary cultural sphere. Performing Postmemories re-imagines the performances of contemporary memory culture and examines its master texts.

This thesis explores the relationship of music and cultural memory in a migrant community, namely the Turkish diaspora in Berlin, Germany, and the changing patterns of music consumption within generations. Music is a significant agent that helps communities bridge the past and present time and place and carries the material that is used to create cultural memories for communities. This research attempts to put forward how music, as a part of our daily lives, is a part of the social arrangements that structure the operations of memory. In the context of modern diaspora, this study looks at the role of music in producing and shaping cultural memory in Berlin with the community with ties to Turkey, and how it is practiced by three different generations in the Turkish diaspora who experience music as a socially constructive element. The study also considers the extent that Turkish cultural heritage and identity is transmitted via music to the third generation, who were born and raised in Germany, examining the narrative of ‘Turkishness’ being woven into the music production of the third generation Turks. This research has been conducted using qualitative research methods with several field trips to Berlin. In-depth interviews mostly with second and third-generation German-Turks show that the Turkish diaspora has been utilising music for remembering, preventing memories from being forgotten and transmitting them to the next generations since the beginning of the guest-worker agreements in 1961. In addition to this connection with music, the timeliness of this study coincides with an era of major generational conflicts. While the second generation’s attempt to introduce their children to Turkish culture through encouraging or pushing them to learn Turkish music at private schools continues, young people have created their own diverse musicking traditions and spaces that connect them both to Turkey and Germany. New developments in technology have also provided young generations alternative paths to find music from Turkey. Building cultural memories via shared music listening experience is decreasing today within immigrant families in Berlin, while young people explore their personal links to Turkish music and create their own memories as a consequence of easier access to Turkish media.