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The Connecting Memories Podcast

The Connecting Memories Podcast

By Paul Leworthy

In this podcast series, Paul Leworthy will be talking to leading academics about memory. As well as presenting some aspect of their research, each episode's guest speaker will be invited to discuss what the term 'memory' means in the context of their research.

For more information about the Connecting Memories research initiative, please visit: www.connectingmemories.org.
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The Connecting Memories PodcastApr 20, 2020

00:00
04:14
On memory and translation with guest speaker Prof Peter Davies (University of Edinburgh)

On memory and translation with guest speaker Prof Peter Davies (University of Edinburgh)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Peter Davies (University of Edinburgh).

Prof Davies presents a talk entitled ‘The Holocaust and Translation: a Complex Relationship’. In his talk and in the discussion that follows, Prof Davies thinks about the Holocaust as an essentially multilingual event, considering both the role of translation during the Holocaust and the all-important contribution of translators and interpreters to the memory of the Holocaust.

Sep 02, 202259:13
On memory and comparison with guest speaker Prof Michael Rothberg (University of California, Los Angeles)

On memory and comparison with guest speaker Prof Michael Rothberg (University of California, Los Angeles)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Michael Rothberg (University of California, Los Angeles).

Prof Rothberg presents a talk entitled ‘Debating Holocaust Memory: The Politics of Comparison in Contemporary Germany’ and we discuss the ethics of Holocaust comparisons, Holocaust memory in a postmigrant society, and the recent public debate in Germany known as the Historikerstreit 2.0 (Historians’ Dispute 2.0).

Jul 29, 202201:01:55
On memory, media and nostalgia with guest speaker Prof Katharina Niemeyer (Université du Québec à Montréal)

On memory, media and nostalgia with guest speaker Prof Katharina Niemeyer (Université du Québec à Montréal)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Katharina Niemeyer (Université du Québec à Montréal).

Prof Niemeyer presents a talk entitled ‘The Power of Nostalgia’. In her talk and in the discussion that follows, Prof Niemeyer talks about the wide range of scholarly approaches to the idea of nostalgia, its ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ forms, as well as technostalgia, and retro and vintage objects.

Jul 22, 202201:01:33
On memory and (im)purity with guest speaker Prof Max Silverman (University of Leeds)

On memory and (im)purity with guest speaker Prof Max Silverman (University of Leeds)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Max Silverman (University of Leeds).

Prof Silverman presents a talk entitled ‘Impure Memory’ and we discuss the links between memory and identity, the idea that memory is never pure, and the crucial contribution of art to memory cultures.

Jul 15, 202255:38
On memory, materiality and waste with guest speaker Dr László Muntean (Radboud University Nijmegen)

On memory, materiality and waste with guest speaker Dr László Muntean (Radboud University Nijmegen)

The guest speaker for this episode is Dr László Muntean (Radboud University Nijmegen).

Dr Muntean presents a talk entitled ‘Memory and Materiality: The Afterlife of the World Trade Center’. In his talk and in the discussion that follows, Dr Muntean thinks about memory materially, charting what subsequently happened to certain of the material remains of the World Trade Center and considering some of the ethical issues surrounding these ‘afterlives’.

Jul 08, 202255:21
On memory, memorials and meaning with guest speaker Prof James Young (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

On memory, memorials and meaning with guest speaker Prof James Young (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof James Young (University of Massachusetts Amherst).
Prof Young presents a talk entitled ‘The Memorialist’ and we discuss the processes of meaning-making and interpretation that memorials are engaged in as well as the ways in which they contribute to memory cultures in different contexts.
Jul 01, 202257:08
On Coronavirus, Memory and Repair with Guest Speaker Prof Marianne Hirsch (Columbia University) - Covid-19 Pandemic Anniversary Special

On Coronavirus, Memory and Repair with Guest Speaker Prof Marianne Hirsch (Columbia University) - Covid-19 Pandemic Anniversary Special

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Marianne Hirsch (Columbia University).

Prof Hirsch presents a talk entitled ‘Acts of Memory and Repair in a Suspended Present: New York City 2022’. In her talk and in the discussion that follows, Prof Hirsch introduces the Zip Code Memory Project community initiative, exploring the affective dimension of the pandemic and the losses it wrought.

This podcast is one of two extended specials to mark the two-year anniversary of the World Health Organisation’s declaration of a global pandemic on 11 March 2020.

Mar 11, 202201:05:28
On Coronavirus and Collective Memory with Guest Speaker Prof Astrid Erll (Goethe University Frankfurt) - Covid-19 Pandemic Anniversary Special
Mar 11, 202201:10:06
On memory and terror attacks with Guest Speaker Dr Sarah Gensburger (CNRS)

On memory and terror attacks with Guest Speaker Dr Sarah Gensburger (CNRS)

The guest speaker for this episode is Dr Sarah Gensburger (CNRS).

Dr Gensburger presents a talk entitled ‘From ordinary memory to extraordinary heritage: a study of the memorialisation of the 2015 attacks in Paris?’

In her talk and in the discussion that follows, Dr Gensburger examines how the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks were remembered and discusses studying the commemoration of these events from the perspective of a sociologist and a resident of the district in which the attacks and much of the commemoration took place.

Jul 13, 202001:00:19
On memory and monuments with guest speaker Prof Patrizia Violi (University of Bologna)

On memory and monuments with guest speaker Prof Patrizia Violi (University of Bologna)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Patrizia Violi (University of Bologna).

We discuss ongoing debates about contested monuments and statues and Prof Violi presents a talk entitled ‘What future for contested monuments?’

Jul 06, 202057:25
On memory and social movements with guest speaker Prof Ann Rigney (University of Utrecht)

On memory and social movements with guest speaker Prof Ann Rigney (University of Utrecht)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Ann Rigney (University of Utrecht).

Prof Rigney presents a talk entitled 'The Afterlife of Hope: how the killing of demonstrators is remembered’ and we discuss cultural memory in connection with activism and social movements as well as ways of moving away from thinking about the past in terms of trauma.

Jun 22, 202058:05
On memory and contested pasts with guest speaker Prof Anne Fuchs (University College Dublin)

On memory and contested pasts with guest speaker Prof Anne Fuchs (University College Dublin)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Anne Fuchs (University College Dublin).

Prof Fuchs presents a talk entitled ‘When did postwar German memory culture end: from divided memory to a pluralistic memory culture’ and we discuss cultural memory in terms of memory contests and scales of implication.

Jun 15, 202057:50
On memory and activism with guest speaker Dr Gyorgy Toth (University of Stirling)

On memory and activism with guest speaker Dr Gyorgy Toth (University of Stirling)

The guest speaker for this episode is Dr Gyorgy Toth (University of Stirling).

Dr Toth presents a talk entitled ‘Memory, performance, and Native American sovereignty rights’ and we discuss cultural memory and activism in the context of Red Power and the Native American rights struggle. 

Jun 08, 202058:47
On memory and cultural trauma in Japan with guest speaker Prof Akiko Hashimoto (Portland State University)

On memory and cultural trauma in Japan with guest speaker Prof Akiko Hashimoto (Portland State University)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Akiko Hashimoto (Portland State University).

Prof Hashimoto presents a talk entitled ‘Something Dreadful Happened in the Past: War Memories in Japan’ and we discuss the cultural memory of WWII in Japan.

May 18, 202047:56
On memory and distributed cognition with guest speaker Prof John Sutton (Macquarie University)

On memory and distributed cognition with guest speaker Prof John Sutton (Macquarie University)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof John Sutton (Macquarie University).

Prof Sutton presents a talk entitled ‘Distributed Ecologies of Remembering’ and we discuss how things, places and other people are involved when we remember.

May 11, 202053:09
On memory and African American literature with guest speaker Dr Leila Kamali

On memory and African American literature with guest speaker Dr Leila Kamali

The guest speaker for this episode is Dr Leila Kamali (@kamali_leila).

Dr Kamali presents a talk entitled ‘Cultural Memory Past, Present and Future in the work of John Edgar Wideman’ and we discuss the cultural memory of Africa in African American and Black British literature.

May 04, 202051:52
On memory and memorials with guest speaker Prof Bill Niven (Nottingham Trent University)

On memory and memorials with guest speaker Prof Bill Niven (Nottingham Trent University)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Bill Niven (Nottingham Trent University).

We discuss Holocaust memorials and the question of relevance and Prof Niven presents a talk entitled 'Reigniting Relevance: Recent Approaches to Memorial Heritage’.

Bill Niven is Professor in Contemporary German History at Nottingham Trent University.

Apr 27, 202052:42
On memory and the built environment with guest speaker Prof Edward Hollis (ECA, University of Edinburgh)

On memory and the built environment with guest speaker Prof Edward Hollis (ECA, University of Edinburgh)

The guest speaker for this episode is Prof Edward Hollis (ECA, University of Edinburgh). 

We discuss what memory means in the context of the built environment and Prof Hollis presents a talk entitled 'Secret Lives, Memory Palaces and Concrete Monstrosities'. 

Edward Hollis is Professor of Interior Design at the Edinburgh College of Art in the University of Edinburgh.  

A PDF of images to accompany Professor Hollis's talk can be found here: http://connectingmemories.weebly.com/podcast.html

Apr 20, 202052:41
Podcast series preview

Podcast series preview

In this short preview, Paul Leworthy introduces the Connecting Memories podcasts and sets out what the series hopes to achieve.

Apr 20, 202004:14