This topic investigates the importance of memories and other representations of the past in the present. It investigates the various ways that the past is remembered, and forgotten, and examines the processes of seeking, communicating and interpreting memory. The topic focuses on the ways in which memorialising practices are shaped by competing contemporary discourses, with particular emphasis on the place of the politics of race, gender and sexuality in informing national identities and other forms of belonging. It also includes an exploration of the status of personal testimonies in contexts including historical research, the media and the law. Australian issues form the core material to be considered but debates about other nations' pasts will also be discussed. Case studies may include ANZAC, colonial frontiers, Lindy Chamberlain, the Stolen Generations, AIDS, homosexual histories, abortion, the Japanese 'comfort women' in World War Two and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
This topic aims to:
Timetable details for 2021 are no longer published.