In recent years, memory has become one of the
most widely debated issues in the social sciences.
While modernity focused largely on the future, how
do we explain the enormous preoccupation with
the past in the postmodern era? This course will pose
some answers to this question. Beginning with a look at the
way memory operates, the course will review major debates
on memory in diverse fields such as psychology, sociology,
and history. It will then focus on particular themes,
including memory's relationship to place, identity, trauma,
narrative, commemoration, media and the body. The
course will rely on a number of case studies, including
studies of memory in Turkey.
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