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Happy Snaps: Cultural Memory, Trauma and Nostalgia (ENGL7218)
2009

Texts

Anil’s Ghost!$!Michael Ondaatjie!$!!$!!$!
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form y separately published work icon Bom Bali Steve Westh , Phil Craig , ( dir. Steve Westh ) Australia : Brook Lapping Productions Network Ten , 2006 Z1542936 2006 single work film/TV (taught in 1 units) The attacks of October 12, 2002 are remembered by the Balinese as Bom Bali. In this program the bombers tell their own stories in detail, explaining how they carried out their attack and why. The victims recall the event and the impact on their lives and the lives of the families of the victims. The documentary re-enacts the events surrounding the bomb blasts.
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The Road!$!McCarthy, Cormac!$!!$!!$!
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Children of Men!$!Cuarón, Alfonso (dir.)!$!!$!!$!
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Description

This topic introduces the concept of cultural memory and explores its effects upon the production of literary and filmic texts. How is memory represented and how is it employed within these late twentieth and early twenty-first century cultural texts? What memories are enabled and disabled in these texts, and what are the limits of memory? The ways in which memory becomes a narrative device for exploring human relationships (particularly family relationships and romantic bonds) are examined. For example, what narratives techniques are used to construct and explore the ways in which people remember their past? Why and how do memories become contested and controversial subjects within culture? What role does nostalgic and traumatic memory play in the construction of memory and its representation? And how are photographs or other visual representations implicated in the construction of memory and truth?

Assessment

Text-based reflections (4 x 250 words = 1000 words total, 30%)

Major essay (2000 words, 60%)

Participation (10%)

Other Details

Offered in: Not offered 2010
Levels: Undergraduate - Honours
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