The role of historical memory in the formulation of collective identities in contemporary post-Holocaust/post-communist Poland and Germany will be shared by Dr. Linda Czuba Brigance at the International Brown Bag Luncheon Monday, April 2, noon, at 127 Fenton (English Reading Room).
The program, “Ruin and Revival: History, Modern Memory and Identity,” is based on the two-week international faculty development seminar that Dr. Brigance, professor of Communication, attended last summer in Krakow, Poland, and Berlin, Germany.
By examining a variety of cultural products -- including art, literature, music, education, commemoration, preservation and community organizing -- Brigance indicated seminar participants were able to confront issues of remembering/forgetting, continuity/disjuncture, ruin/revival and authenticity/representation.
Brigance will share her experiences and reflections by focusing on the controversies surrounding the reclamation and use of three specific sites of memory: Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial, in Oswiecim, Poland; the Typography of Terror, Berlin; and the Berlin Wall itself.
Contested interpretations of the past, contradictory narratives of the present and conflicting visions of the future continue to illustrate the ongoing debate over these sites.
Drinks will be furnished at the luncheon; guests may bring their own lunch or a snack.
