Counter Memory &

Forgetting
DR. WILL KURLINKUS
Key Ideas

u Memories always involve erasures—you can’t tell everyone’s story all the time.
These erasures/forgettings are always “political” (defined as the negotiations
of what to do with limited resources—the limited resource here being time and
attention). Who wants whom to remember what and why.
u Postmemory: memories passed down through the generations with impact as
if the descendents experienced the events themselves.
u Countermemory: memories that counter and disrupt the majority/national
histories.
u Vernacular memorials
u Arguments against equitable remembering (in this case remembering the new
zealand landwars in school): it will divide us, it’s changing history, the melting
pot.
Colonialism and Memory

u Whose story gets told?

u When does American history start and what does it include?
u How do we remember the conquest of America and the transition from
indigenous rule to European colonialism? What was the story you were
taught in school? (founding fathers, pioneers, pilgrims, manifest destiny)
Presentation Wednesday

u 1-2 slides.
u What’s you’re argument in 2 minutes?
u Give me your most interesting points/examples.