Memory Work

This thesis research focuses on how the Cambodian genocide is represented and how genocide remembrance is enacted in a memorial museum setting. More specifically it is concerned with the collection and curation of survivor memory and documentary objects used to produce this exhibit. I examined the development process of the exhibit, looking particularly at the negotiations, challenges, and decisions that occurred between multiple groups involved in the exhibit’s design, including first-generation Cambodian survivors, younger generations of Cambodian Americans, scholars & museum professionals, and other members of the Chicago Cambodian community. This research is based on semi-structured interviews with individuals involved with the exhibit’s development, on textual analysis of archival documents created at that time, and on content analysis of the exhibit in present day.

The excavated lacquered objects and the tomb structure of Mawangdui tomb 1 reflect a wealth of information on the social concerns of Han dynasty and individual memory and beliefs of Lady Dai. In attempt to investigate how material culture found form in Han society, Lady Dai’s constitution of memory work is examined through the contexts of practice, agency and materiality. In the above light, I shall also evaluate the possible shift in meaning of memory work through time.

In this paper, we explore some of the tensions involved in the process of engaging with embodiment research. Although a significant volume of discursive work on “the body” and its role in social relations now exists, there is little in the way of empirical research that moves the focus away from discourse alone to concentrate on other modalities, such as embodied feelings, sensations, and engagements with the world. We begin by briefly reviewing the turn to embodiment across the social sciences and the manner in which this has been taken up in psychology. We then outline our attempts as a research collective to develop methodologies and research activities that can produce meaningful data on embodied experience. The outcomes of one of these tasks are then described in detail, along with reflections on the difficulties and limitations that emerged. Finally, we attempt to conceptualize the challenge of researching embodiment by returning to the late 19th century psychology of John Dew...

As a research method memory-work deserves much more attention than it enjoys currently. The method originates from the West-German feminist movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s. It was developed as a collective research tool to bring the experiences of women which were found to be absent in scientific discourse into debate.

The method in a nutshell:

i) Group members discuss the topic at hand to understand their individual points of view on the matter

ii) Members write stories of an event relating to the topic which they experienced themselves.

iii) Stories are analysed by the group in a set procedure of ‘deconstruction’.

iv) Results of the text-analyses (step iii) and initial discussion (step i) are set in relation to each other.

The intertwined process of giving meaning to one’s own experiences and struggling for social recognition of one’s own image in a specific historical and material situation come to the fore when the material generated by participants is analysed. The reconstruction of the scenes gives rise to new interpretations and opens the view for alternative routes of action.

As a research tool memory work has been used in feminist studies, but also on topics like migration, media experiences, teacher training, sport, tourist experiences.

As a method developed from within an emancipative social movement memory-work offers a tool for social science in an enhanced attempt to understand the human essence in its reality as the ensemble of social relations and effectively help in generating articulated alternatives.

We tell the story of our experience of memory-work research. We were enthused to work collectively on a ‘discovery ’ project to explore a method we were unfamiliar with. We hoped to build working relationships based on mutual respect and the desire to focus on methodology and its place in our psychological understanding. The empirical activities highlighted methodological and experiential challenges which tested our adherence to the social constructionist premise of Haug’s original description of memory-work. Combined with practical difficulties of living across Europe writing and analysing the memories became contentious. We found ourselves having to address a number of tensions emanating from the work and our approach to it. We discuss some of these tensions alongside examples that illustrate the research process and the ways we negotiated the collective nature of the memory-work approach.

The use of memory-work as a qualitative method in feminist social research is well established in Australia and New Zealand. Memory-work, though, still brings with it many theoretical and methodological dilemmas and issues. To open some of these issues to ...