“It Lives: Writing Cultural Memory and Discovering Where it Resides.”
The scholarship of cultural memory studies serves as the context for understanding my own research and writing endeavor during the spring semester 2023. I completed the sabbatical project by researching digital archives and discovering surprising details about an era from 100 years ago. I then turned this newly discovered American history into a family drama. I will discuss the significant effect that research and writing about the past can have on the present, especially when one is personally connected to the content. I take inspiration from authors whom I teach. They dive into the depths of their cultural heritage as it informs their present.
“You can’t put the past behind you. It’s buried in you.” (Claudia Rankine, Citizen).
“Where else to Row, but Backward.” (Derek Walcott. Another Life)
Together, we may consider further where cultural memories reside—in the archives of our imagination, in archives both living and dead, human (elders of the family and community) and non-human (memorials, sculptures, museums, libraries, books, nature).
-Dr. David Hart
Funded by the generosity of Bill and Yvonne Hyde, our department's Colloquium Series gives faculty members the chance to present and discuss projects and topics with other faculty and students. Personal or professional, our faculty members have full creative liberties on what they'd like to present on, as is exemplified by the wide variety of presentations given since 2002.
