Postmemory
Time: 2025-09-17 12:00 - 14:00
Location: Large Hall B at Auditorium Maximum
Chairman: Kaja Kaźmierska
Events within this Session
"Icimbo ca Malilo" as Oral History: Social and Therapeutic Role of a Funeral Dirge in Post-colonial Zambia
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 12:00 - 14:00
Abstract
Despite being moments of mourning, funerals act as centres of historical narratives. The people of Luapula in Zambia, use icimbo ca malilo (funeral dirge) to express feelings and experiences regarding the deceased and to narrate family histories. Despite the long history of use, icimbo ca malilo has seldom received attention of social historians in Zambia. Icimbo ca malilo is a form of oral history performed as songs and dances, used to make value judgements about death. It allows mourners to eulogise the life and narrate the family history of the deceased. Successes and failures of the deceased are recounted by master poets, often elderly women who are adept singers of icimbo ca malilo. Icimbo ca malilo allows mourners to narrate the relations within the extended family and the community. Drawing on oral interviews, this paper is an attempt at placing icimbo ca malilo as a key oral history source. Icimbo ca malilo, I argue, is a source of power for women since through its performance, their voices are brought to the fore and, thus, giving agency to a marginalised group. Icimbo ca malilo can help capture ‘the unrecognised voices and experiences of the disadvantaged’, particularly women, thus serving as a remedy to an exclusively elite history.[1] By focusing on icimbo ca malilo, social historians can pull ‘the narrator […] into the narrative’ making him or her ‘a part of the story’.[2] This paper shows that the dirge of icimbo ca malilo plays an important therapeutic role to the bereaved family.
[1] Barbara M. Cooper, ‘Oral Sources and the Challenge of African History’, in John Edward Philips (ed.) Writing African History (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2005), p. 193. [2] Alessandro Portelli, ‘What Makes Oral History Different’, in Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson (eds.) The Oral History Reader (London: Routledge, 1998), p. 72.
Speakers
The Divergence of Samba Practices Between Brazil and Japan: A Comparative Study of Cultural and Political Influences from Voice of Them
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 12:00 - 14:00
Abstract
This study investigates the cultural and political dynamics shaping samba practices in Brazil and Japan, focusing on how these factors influence the development and perception of samba in both countries. My background includes studying instrumental performance at a music university in Brazil and ethnomusicology at Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts. I have engaged as a percussionist in both commercial music and samba groups during Brazil’s Carnival, which has deeply informed my research on rhythm in music. Samba, originating in Brazil, is widely appreciated in Japan; however, the contexts of its practice differ significantly. In Brazil, samba is intricately linked to political power, with government support playing a critical role in its development, particularly during the Carnival season in cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In contrast, Japanese samba is practiced by private groups, free from political intervention. This study examines how these differing contexts influence the cultural and rhythmic characteristics of samba in both countries. Through ethnographic fieldwork and interview conducted since 2016 in Brazil and 2017 in Japan, including participant observation and interviews with samba practitioners, I have explored the distinct perspectives and practices in each country. Findings reveal that Brazilian samba, supported by government policies and legal frameworks, maintains its traditional rhythmic and lyrical elements, while Japanese samba, despite adopting Brazilian forms, has developed unique rhythms and lacks the historical significance of its lyrics. This research highlights how political involvement can shape cultural practices and suggests that the cultural codes essential to understanding Brazilian samba’s rhythm may be absent in Japan due to differences in education and social structures. The presentation will discuss the implications of political intervention in cultural transmission and the potential for cultural practices to evolve independently in different sociopolitical contexts.
Speakers
The Haunting Painting of Jesus. Obstacles and Alternatives in Conducting Oral History Research within Post-Displacement Regions
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 12:00 - 14:00
Abstract
Before 1945, the Protestant church in Liberec / Reichenberg in Czechia was owned by the German Evangelical Church. After the expulsion of Germans, it was confiscated by the state and given to two different Protestant communities. It deteriorated, and, despite the discussions about its potential use in 1976, it was demolished, including all its furnishings. After many years, the former altar painting was found. This painting, a thing left behind, becomes for me a key to understanding the current situation of the religious communities in this post-displacement region. I argue that in the case of research on religious communities in post-displacement regions, great care must be taken in selecting appropriate methods. Material culture research often relies more on observation than structured interviews, because an ethnographic hunch (Pink, 2021) can direct the course of further research. Interviews should include younger individuals (i.e., not event witnesses), such as clergymen, who play key roles in their communities. They are not typically subjects of oral history research, although they do become subjects of narrating the history of their parish. It is important to observe relationships within the community to determine who is in charge of keeping the narrative. Community activity focused on oral transmission does not end with interviews,: it includes religious activities (sermons, prayers, etc.). Furthermore, there are differences between the policies and practices of a particular church that can only be explored through ethnographic practice. To uncover such a story as the one of the painting it is crucial to examine how memories are passed on to future generations within these communities, and to understand the role that remnants of the German community play in the lives of current residents in these regions. In my paper, I will argue that oral history alone is sometimes insufficient and must be complemented with other methods. Bibliography: Pink, S. (2021). The Ethnographic Hunch. W Experimenting with Ethnography (s. 30–40). Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478013211-004
Speakers
Possibilities of Practices and Oral Histories of People Who Inherit Memories and Records
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 12:00 - 14:00
Abstract
How can we approach history that we cannot hear directly? There may be documents, personal records such as diaries and letters, and photos, audio and video, but also by people. Okinawa, which is now a part of Japan, has its own culture, language, and religion. Since its annexation by modern Japan, the people have gone through profound changes. Such experiences of immigration, assimilation, and modernization, the Battle of Okinawa, the resistance under U.S. military rule, and the people’s movement to protect the environment and livelihoods against global capitalism and militarism have been remembered, recorded, and passed down. In this process, they begin to learn and face the issues in their own place and times. They preserve the history and culture of their community and made them new experiences. As an example, I would like to show the possibilities of an oral history to succeed the attempt to pass on the records of the late Fumi Miyagi, a female culture researcher and writer from Yaeyama, a remote discriminated island in Okinawa. She was born in 1900 and her father believed that education was the most important, so Fumi became a woman who acquired modern education and also traditional knowledge. She became a teacher, and active in community activities. She lost some of her family in the Battle of Okinawa. She became one of Ishigaki’s first female councilors and devoted herself to early childhood education in a local kindergarten. After the retirement, Fumi suddenly wanted to document the vanishing life in Yaeyama, and over the years she completed Yaeyama Seikatsushi. There are people who inherit her practice. I want to talk about what has been handed down to them and how it is connected to local/global issues and connections nowadays.
Speakers
In the Postmemory and Cultural Memory Regime: The Passing of the Second World War Witness Generation and Ethnographic Research
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 12:00 - 14:00
Abstract
The memory of the Second World War remains vital to the identity of European communities, shaping the political and moral frameworks in which they operate. Central to the meaning of this memory has been the voices of those who witnessed its history. In my presentation, I will explore the future of oral history research on the 1939-1945 period, based on ethnographic observations. Between 2012 and 2022, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork on the memory of the Second World War in southern Poland. Drawing on the materials collected, I will examine who now assumes the roles of historical witnesses and whose voices carry the greatest social authority in recounting past events. I will also discuss how the passing of the wartime generation is described by the witnesses themselves. Additionally, I will address the social significance of the disappearing field of oral history research. Oral history of the Second World War has addressed socially relevant issues such as memory conflicts and traumatic experiences, helping to illuminate and better understand them. In my presentation, opportunities to transform the oral history of the Second World War will be highlighted to ensure that this research continues to be meaningful and socially relevant. This will also be helpful to establish the Second World War memory as beneficial for future generations