HomeMemory and Society

HomeMemory and Society

Memory and Society

Mémoire et société

Memoria e società

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Published on Thursday, June 01, 2023

Abstract

Our identity depends significantly on our ability to store information in the form of memory. The summer school project aims to apply this reflection to the different facets involved: religion; material culture and archaeology; media and technology; crises, disasters, and resilience; politics; body and neuroscience; nature/culture relationship; law; literature.

Announcement

Organized by Scuola Superiore dell’Università di Catania and École Pratique des Hautes Études de Paris, PSL

Catania 05 September – 09 September 2023

Presentation

Our identity depends significantly on our ability to store information in the form of memory. The human brain is an organ endowed with great plasticity, its synaptic connections can be strengthened or loosened and are even capable of permanent structural changes. This plasticity is essential for defining our individuality, the sense we have of ourselves. Reversing the Cartesian maxim cogito ergo sum, we are not what we are because we think, but because we can remember what we think. Memory is also a fundamental source of "immunization". From a psycho-cognitive point of view, memorizing experiences increases the probability of avoiding repeating the same mistakes of the past.

Memory is not a phenomenon that unfolds only along an individual and subjective axis, and this has been demonstrated over time by various scholars who have assumed a central position for under- standing the social basis of memory: Vygotsky, Bartlett and, above all, Maurice Halbwachs. In his work for the first time explicitly defined memory as a social fact; since all memory involves social structures that function as the framework (“social frameworks”) around which to organize the history of the past and which allow communication and sharing.

Memory is not only a phenomenon that intertwines individual and collective, but also the organic and the symbolic, as well as the cultural and the technological, as demonstrated by the great French an- thropologist Leroi-Gourhan. Memory thus appears as the foundation of the link with our past (histor- ical as well as mythological), and the condition of self-recognition as a member of a group that goes beyond the hic et nunc. Memory, from an anthropological point of view, therefore, makes it possible to question the link between society and what goes beyond it: the Ancestors, the beyond, etc.

It is in the inverse image of memory, forgetting, that we see one of the meanings of social construc- tion. These are the moments when forgetting is a condition of belonging, a negative individual con- dition; when the reference group needs oblivion to survive and memory is brutally eradicated: the memory of the gods, the memory of icons, the memory of places and times, of metaphor, of signs, of signals.

The summer school project is part of this theoretical framework and aims to develop some aspects of it thanks to the application of this reflection to the different facets involved: religion; material culture and archaeology; media and technology; crises, disasters, and resilience; politics; body and neurosci- ence; nature/culture relationship; law; literature.

Scientific organizers

Alfonsina Bellio and Cristophe Grellard (EPHE-PSL), Guido Nicolosi and Adriana Di Stefano (SSC Unict).

Organization

The Summer School will be organized around lectures and seminars. To make lessons more respon- sive, the participants will be engaged in seminars and workshops in which they will investigate the main themes of the Summer School working in small groups, through activities, discussions, posters, inputs, and examples.

Programme

Tuesday 05 September

14.30-18: general introduction, presentations by the organisers

Wednesday 06 September

9.30-12.30: presentation by participants on their current research

15,30 – 18,30 Keynote lecture and workshop

Thursday 07 September

Morning: Archaeological visit of Catania

15,30 – 18,30 Keynote lecture and workshop

Friday 08 September

Archaeological visit of Syracuse

Saturday 09 September

9,30 – 12,30 Final workshop and conclusion

Sunday 10 September

optional visit Etna (extra fees)

Practical information

Duration

The Summer School will take place in September, from Tuesday 05 (afternoon) to Saturday 09 (morn- ing).

Eligibility

The Summer School is open to 20 participants: doctoral students, young researchers (postdocs), and to outstanding master’s students (if their request is duly justified).

How to submit

Please send to: guido.nicolosi@unict.it and alfonsina.bellio@ephe.psl.eu

  • a supervisor letter for the doctoral and pos-doctoral students (max. 500 words) or a letter from another teacher for master
  • a letter of motivation (max. 500 words)
  • a synthetic CV (max. 1000 words), indicating your educational background and the main focus(es) of your
  • a short description (max. 300 words) of your research project

The deadline for sending your proposals is 16 June 2023

Evaluation and registration

The results of the evaluation process will be announced before 30 June 2023. The registration will becompleted at a later stage.

Fees, accommodation, scholarships

All participants are expected to attend the entire duration of the Summer School and a Certificate of Attendance will be provided at the end. The fee for participation is 450 €.

The fee includes:

  • access to all lectures and workshops;
  • Accomodation in the Scuola Superiore di Catania;
  • Lunches and dinners in the canteen of the Scuola Superiore di Catania;
  • Archeological and historical guided tour in Catania;
  • Archeological and historical guided tour in Siracusa;

Each participant can request a refund from his/her home university. Scholarships to cover the costs will be provided for 10 participant (5 Scuola Superiore di Catania + 5 EPHE-PSL Paris).

Certificate and ECTS

Organizers may issue a certificate of participation and credits.

Languages accepted for communications

Italian, French, English. In the case of a language other than English, the preparation of bilingual materials (handouts, powerpoint, etc.) is strongly recommended.

Places

  • Catania, Italian Republic

Event attendance modalities

Full on-site event


Date(s)

  • Friday, June 16, 2023

Keywords

  • memory, society

Contact(s)

  • Guido Nicolosi
    courriel : guido [dot] nicolosi [at] unict [dot] it

Information source

  • Bellio Alfonsina
    courriel : alfonsina [dot] bellio [at] ephe [dot] psl [dot] eu

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Memory and Society », Summer School, Calenda, Published on Thursday, June 01, 2023, https://doi.org/10.58079/1baj

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