Memory Cultures

Subject 106-404 (2009)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2009. Search for this in the current handbook

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 4 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

Semester 2, - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable


Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: A 2-hour seminar per week
Total Time Commitment: 2 contact hours/week, 8 additional hours/week. Total of 10 hours per week.
Prerequisites: Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in Cultural Studies, English or Creative Writing.
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Coordinator

Assoc Prof Chris Healy
Subject Overview: The aim of this subject is to explore a theoretical history of remembrance in contemporary culture. We will begin by considering the massive transformations in cultural memory brought about by modernity. From this starting point we will consider the trajectories of cultural memory from Freud's curative hypotheses to the dominance of amnesia and trauma as tropes of memory in contemporary culture. Students will be expected to read and explore both theoretical accounts of contemporary cultural memory and to produce specific studies of the ways in which mechanical reproduction, testimony, the bureaucratic and state archive, film, monuments, museums, digital technologies and other cultural products and institutions have formed and continue to form contemporary cultures of remembrance.
Objectives:
  • understand the major twentieth-century articulations of culture, memory and modernity;
  • have developed the analytical skills and methodological confidence to produce detailed and innovative studies in cultural memory;
  • appreciate the inter-relations and dynamics of practices of remembrance as, in part, defining the cultural dynamics of the twentieth century.
Assessment: A research essay of 5000 words 100% (due at the end of semester). All students are required to make a formal class presentation (due during the first 10 weeks of semester) and a presentation of work towards their final essay (due during the last two weeks of semester).
Prescribed Texts: A subject reader will be available.
Breadth Options:

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.
Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Generic Skills:
  • have advanced research and analytic skills;
  • develop critical and ethical self-awareness;
  • have the ability to develop and communicate effective arguments in both oral and written form.
Notes: Formerly available as 106-127. Students who have completed 106-127 are not eligible to enrol in this subject.
Related Course(s): Bachelor of Arts (Honours)(Media and Communications)
Master of Global Media Communication
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations: Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies

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