Co-organizers: Dr Ana Carden Coyne (History) and Prof Laura Doan (EAC)
Two-day event.
5pm, John Casken Lecture Theatre, Martin Harris Centre
"Centenaries: What Are They Good For?”
Public Lecture with Professor Ann Rigney (Chair Comparative Literature at the University of Utrecht)
10am-12pm, Ellen Wilkinson C1.18
Roundtable with Ann Rigney, Ana Carden-Coyne (History) and Laura Doan (EAC)
(readings below)
In the context of the current WW1 ‘centenary fever’ it sometimes seems as if there was never a centenary before and that this is ‘the centenary to end all centenaries.’ In my talk I will examine this assumption by considering the history of the celebration of centenaries as part of modern civic culture. Drawing on recent insights from the field of cultural memory studies, I will then go on to consider critically the cultural and political work that can be performed by centenaries. I will show that they can be both an occasion for consensus-building and for resistance to dominant narratives, but that they are above all important because indeed they provide ‘occasions’ and a sense of sharing in the same time.
Readings for roundtable:
Edward Casey, in The Collective Memory Reader, ed J. Olick et al (Oxford UP, 2011), pp. 184-187
Peter Burke, “Co-Memorations: Performing the Past,” in K.Tilmans, F van Vree, Jay Winter (eds.), Performing the Past: Memory, History, and Identity in Modern Europe (Amsterdam UP, 2010), pp. 105-118
Michel-Rolph Trouillot’s, “Abortive Rituals: Historical Apologies in the Global Era” in The Collective Memory Reader, ed Olick et al (Oxford UP, 2011), pp. 458-64
For pdfs of readings, please follow this link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/rz09qn19pjayqiq/AAAZnPD17L6BkaGEcJtdReHFa?dl=0
