Memory and Heritage
Time: 2025-09-18 14:30 - 16:30
Location: Large Hall A at Auditorium Maximum
Chairman: Miao Tian
Events within this Session
Liming: An Invaluable Source of Caribbean Oral History
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 14:30 - 16:30
Abstract
There is a call by some Caribbean academics for the recognition of indigenous research methodology in studies about Caribbean people, their lives, and their culture. Leading voices on this issue suggest, among other things, that the Caribbean social practice of liming is one of such cultural practices that can be used in academic research. Liming occurs when people come together to talk, usually over refreshments. No topic is off limits. Liming can be scheduled, or it can happen spontaneously. It fosters positive community interactions by providing opportunities to inform, educate, socialise, interrogate, and seek clarification from the person speaking at any point in time during the lime. Some key features of liming include debate and oral history. My research is an exploration of the needs and experiences of unpaid dementia carers of Caribbean heritage in the UK through life story work. Therefore, liming has some relevance to my study. In addition to conducting semi-structured interviews in my research, provision is being made for liming as informal conversations, if it occurs. Some proponents of liming in research suggest that liming is an affirming methodology. The conference presentation has two aims. Firstly, the presentation is to raise awareness of the existence of liming in Caribbean culture. The second aim is to discuss the role of liming as a source of oral history.
Speakers
Oral history vs. Memory Monoculture: Initiatives at the Rare Books and Special Collections Library of the American University in Cairo in Egypt
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 14:30 - 16:30
Abstract
Monocultures in agriculture possess inherent weaknesses, according to ecologists who contrast single-crop farming with biodiverse natural ecosystems. Likewise, the historical record lacks robustness when based upon narrow strata of society, limited documentary formats, or expression restricted by authorities. But oral history can be used to help balance the “soil” of human memory and historical inquiry, an appropriate metaphor in Egypt where for millennia agriculture underpinned society. This presentation will demonstrate how, at the Rare Books and Special Collections Library of the American University in Cairo (AUC), oral history initiatives highlight varied strands of Egyptian and university experience. At AUC a program of oral histories has been pursued over two decades with shapers of society (architects, artists, policy leaders), balanced by efforts to interview craftspeople, villagers, and members of ethnic groups to reveal the lives of less-prominent but essential actors in Egyptian society, and fill archival documentation gaps. In the political arena, the University on the Square: Documenting Egypt’s 21st Century Revolution project prioritized the voices of ordinary participants over high-profile figures (women in particular given their say). In documenting the university’s century-long history, oral testimonies have been used to balance official written records, and extend beyond administrators and faculty to represent alternative narratives and viewpoints: when student and staff strikes closed AUC over a decade ago, organizers and participants were interviewed to create a record outside official statements and disciplinary files. The use of Arabic as well as English in interviews and their description will be covered as well.
Speakers
Craftsmanship and Memory: Archives Establishment and Public Dissemination of the Oral History from the Inheritors of Intangible Cultural Heritage
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 14:30 - 16:30
Abstract
This paper combines the rescue record project for national and provincial level representative inheritors of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) in China since 2015, analyzes the important role of oral history in addressing the crisis of ICH protection and inheritance, and in empowering and enhancing the power of community archives. It also discusses how to disseminate the oral history of ICH to the general public. This paper posits that oral history, as a historical research method and a type of historical documentation, offers new perspectives and approaches for dealing with the survival predicament and inheritance crisis of ICH. The oral history archives of inheritors of ICH represent the rescue conservation and organization about exquisite Craftsmanship and cultural memory of these inheritors. The process of establishing these archives exhibits three distinct characteristics: 1) integrate the research methods of oral history and conduct the field investigation by deeply immersing themself in the living environment and practice site of the inheritors; 2) reflect the history and culture of the community and embody the original cultural ecology, regional folk context and the voice of the people; 3) emphasize standardization and normalization to facilitate long-term preservation, conservation and utilization. Public dissemination is the crucial link in the utilization of oral history archives. Media promotion, exhibitions, public education, and international exchange have become new methods for disseminating the oral history of ICH inheritors to the general public.
Speakers
When (grant)parents tell … A study of (post)colonial memories within Congolese families in Belgium (1950-2023)
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 14:30 - 16:30
Abstract
The management of Belgium’s colonial past has been a sensitive topic in debates and social communication for years. If the recommendations of the Passé Colonial Special Commission divided the Belgian political class in December 2023, this work also demonstrated the relevance and importance of a scientific approach to clarify some of the aspects of this complex and controversial past. There are many investigations that attest to the continuous influence of the (post)colonial past on contemporary dynamics. However, even though they recognize its importance and partially address it, none of them specifically focuses on an analysis of the cross memories between Belgians and Belgian-Congolese in Belgium. (Cordonnier et al., 2021) Within the scope of this conference, I would like to present the first results of the oral inquires on (post)colonial memories among Congolese and Belgo-Congolese elders for the period 1950-1973, headed up in Brussels and Lubumbashi. This investigation is part of work on the “history of memories” and is based on the postulate that these memories can affect the agency capacity of (post)colonial populations, reinforcing or not the feeling of belonging to a group or even favoring “creolization” from Belgian and Congolese colonial memories.
Speakers
Threading Voices: Analyzing Communal Participation in Preserving Oral Tradition Pertaining Creative Processes Associated with Craftsmanship
Type: session | Language: English
Time: 14:30 - 16:30
Abstract
Cultural heritage is built on the cyclical nature of repetition, especially when pertaining craftsmanship. In each interaction lies a new starting point from which to continue the communicative process of collective memory, providing continuity to the skillset associated with the materials used per each craft. In this sense, this proposal focuses on TrasiMemo: Banca della Memoria del Trasimeno (Paciano, PG) as a case study from which to analyze how the communication of creative processes allows for a deeper exploration of the performativity of craftsmanship heritage in rural contexts. TrasiMemo is configured as an open project, where the safeguarding of heritage is entrusted to artisans, identified as the project’s co-authors, lead craftsmanship workshops where participants are invited to learn craft traditions documented as part of the institution’s oral memory bank, built over the span of a decade through ethnographic work. Through the notion of performance and heritage from Laurajane Smith and participatory art from Claire Bishop, an interdisciplinary analysis is proposed where the idea of relational aesthetics can be applied to the ethnographic work carried out for establishing the oral memory bank as well as participatory creative processes. The analysis emphasizes on two types of activities led by TrasiMemo, namely structured and self-managed workshops. Structured activities, such as the fiber arts workshop, offer a space for sharing collective memory through the materiality of the craft. The activation of the creative process is mediated between the apprentice’s prior knowledge related to the materiality of the workshop and the guidance of the master craftsman. Contrarywise, self- managed activities such as gardening are based on a pre-existing skillset on the subject and the autonomous work of the participants, as they are not guided by an expert. These work dynamics represent the basis for reflecting on how the performativity of heritage is founded on the convergence of a limited number of people who create a space where the endpoint is not confined to materiality.