World Memory - by J Bennett & R Kennedy (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

How do we account for experiences of trauma and memory in multicultural and 'globalized' societies? World Memory blends the study of trauma and memory with perspectives from postcolonial theory to explore a range of traumatic personal and socio-historical experiences: September 11, the Holocaust, Stolen Generations, Apartheid, racism, sexual abuse, migration and diaspora. From diverse disciplinary bases, the writers examine psychoanalytic, artistic, literary and vernacular accounts of trauma, collectively revealing what happens when languages of memory traverse boundaries of culture, space and time.

Review Quotes

'An excellent, deeply absorbing volume.' - Professor Stephen Frosh, Birkbeck College, University of London

'A significant affirmation and expansion of the new field of trauma and memory studies, World Memory inscribes local cases into global contexts. Its rich theoretical essays draw on psychoanalysis, postcolonial theory, personal testimony and aesthetic and critical discourses to make convincing claims for the broad applicability and explanatory power of the notion of world memory. Readers will find that this book's impressive comparative scope yields surprising insights into the possibilities and the limits of identification and empathy.' - Marianne Hirsch, Dartmouth College, USA

About the Author

JENNIFER LOUREIDE BIDDLE Lecturer in Anthropology, Macquarie University, Sydney ANNE BRENNAN Lecturer in Art Theory, School of Art, Australian National University Institute of the Arts ESTHER FAYE Lecturer in History, University of Melbourne HEIDI GRUNEBAUM Research and Education Director, Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory. Lecturer in English, University of the Western Cape YAZIR HENRI Director of the Direct Action Centre for Peace and Memory ANDREAS HUYSSEN Villard Professor of German and Comparative Literature, Columbia University E. ANN KAPLAN Professor of English and Comparative Literature and Director of the Humanities Institute, SUNY Stony Brook SANDRA SOO-JIN Lecturer in Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University and Fellow at the Stanford Centre for Biomedical Ethics DIANE LOSCHE Senior Lecturer in Art Theory, University of New South Wales TIMOTHY MURRAY Professor of Comparative Literature and English, Cornell University FIONA C. ROSS Lecturer in Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town ANN SCOTT Senior Lecturer, University of Westminster TIKKA WILSON Works at the National Archives of Australia