Communicative and Cultural Memory

In 1980s, when digital technology flourished, computer was used solely as drawing tool, while in today's architectural environment, digital technology has undertaken the role of being the main component of the architectural production process. Parametric design, algorithmic design and similar digital design methods, gathered under the title of computational design, have been an important tool in the emergence of contemporary architectural products. With its alternatives, parametric design has been one of the most important current architecture’s problem solvers, enabling control of all criteria, from production of forms to efficient use of topography and natural conditions to reflection of local cultural architectural texture. Parametric design with its ability to use all the criteria limiting design as a forming tool has become an instrument that arranges relations of architecture with different disciplines such as ecology, climatology, engineering, geography, sociology, history, archeology, lighting. In this context, parametric design with its potentials such as reinterpretation of traditional architectural forms, understanding of cultural infrastructure with its all layers and considering it as a form source has become a preferred approach in societies expressing their social and cultural changes through architecture, especially in buildings such as museums and libraries they construct. On the other hand, structures’ harmony designed by using parametric design with cultural and environmental factors has been another reason for preference of this method. In UAE, which is a newly established country and attempt to create its cultural memory together with its economic power, in China, which weakened its ties with past after the Mao Revolution and is struggling to change its existing culture to contemporary one to support its economic power, in Istanbul/Turkey which has multilayered historical structure, the parametric form creation methods have been utilized for the museum building’s design. In this study, firstly, parametric design’s role method in memory space design will be discussed theoretically. Subsequently, it is aimed to embody the discussion over three pillars that deal with parametric design method with different approaches. In this sense, the Abu Dhabi Louvre Museum in UAE, which endeavors to create its social and cultural memory, the Yinchuan Museum in China, whose ties with the past have been weakened due to political reasons, and attempts to reconstruct its ancient culture with contemporary understanding of culture, and Istanbul City Museum, which uses parametric design method to present the stratified structure of its local and cultural memory, will be reviewed as model architectural structures of the study. One of the main objectives of the study is to show how parametric design is benefited in these three structures’ designs, how parametric-based form creation methods varies with these three structures, and how the relationship between cultural memory and space is configured differently with parametric methods. Additionally, in the context of the possibilities provided by parametric design, an analysis of the artefact-form relations with the environmental factors of all three museums and discussion of these relations are among the objectives of the study. In the study, descriptive survey method was pursued, and an interview was conducted with Alper Derinboğaz, architect of the Istanbul City Museum (ICM). In the conclusion, information use provided by the parametric design as a form source in formation of societies’ cultural memory, cultural-environmental adaptation possibilities and flexible design understanding were assessed, and the fact that non-euclid and topological form understanding strengthens the monumentality of museum structures were discussed. Keywords: memory, memory space, museum, parametric design.

The article “Selected Aspects of Contemporary Russian Cultural Memory” presents the influence of the Russian government on the changes in cultural memory in the 2000s and 2010s, and indicates some of their sources dating back to the era of Leonid Brezhnev and the 1990s. The analysis of cultural memory is inspired by the work of a German researcher of cultural memory, Aleida Assmann. The article discusses the transformation of the meanings of selected elements of Russian cultural memory, carried out by creating new symbols such as the ribbon of Saint George, or the transformation of the meaning of symbols such as Victory Day, once associated with communist ideology, into symbols associated with the conservative model of spiritual bonds (духовные скрепы). As a result, Russian cultural memory is created and strengthened by the Russian government as both the memory of the winners and the memory of the victims.

Moving from the assumption that cultural memory can be connected to the Peircean notion of habit , the article proposes the application of some Peircean categories to the study of spatialization of cultural memory and the process of heritagization with regard to “war heritage”. Drawing on Patrizia Violi’s notion of “trauma sites”, the article proposes to consider spatial traces left on architectures by some historical events both as indexes (Peirce) and imprints (Eco); and then focuses on architectural restoration as a practice of monumentalization and eventually “manipulation” of such traces. Following a discussion of some examples, the argument proposed is that restoration of architectures which have been damaged by war events, in case it is inspired by an intention of monumentalizion, in some cases may operate a sort of amplification of the iconic character of the trace/index (which nevertheless usually do not nullify, in fact sometimes even amplify, the indexical character), in order to make the trace/index easier to recognize according to cultural codes. Eventually, an interpretation is proposed which considers the operation of spatial monumentalization of a trace as coincident with the process of constitution of an “iconic memory sign” able to fix and communicate the indexicality that generated the trace; in other words: the conversion of a material trace in a “sign of memory” passes through an iconization of the index

This essay explores the impact of the Reformation on the structures of early modern memory culture. Starting from recent historiographical revisions of post-Reformation practices of commemoration, it examines the interplay of remembering and forgetting in antiquarian scholarship — a discourse which confronted directly the problems posed by the destruction of material and ritual means for commemoration. While antiquarian discourse in particular conceived of its project in terms of salvaging the material objects of England’s past from the grave of oblivion, some scholars developed complex notions of the constructive role forgetting might play in a larger, transcendental vision of immortality. Reading Browne’s Hydriotaphia, or Urne-Buriall (1658) against the background of antiquarian texts like Camden’s Britannia (1596; 1610), Stow’s Survey of London (1603), and Weever’s Ancient Funerall Monuments (1631) the essay charts the different strategies developed to come to terms with the painful memories of the Reformation, which constitute the thematic concern of these texts, as well as memory culture profoundly shaped by the forces of oblivion.

Problems of Building and Destruction of National Identity

One of the fascinating questions about the history of Magna Graecia in the period after the Roman conquest is the interaction between Roman and Greek culture in the region. This shows a high degree of variability, with Hellenism remaining an important part of civic culture in some communities, but almost entirely disappearing from the record in others. The reasons underlying this variation and the factors which determine the persistence or disappearance of Hellenism (and, conversely, the adoption of aspects of Roman culture) are still very unclear. This chapter seeks to examine the role of social memory in determining the relationship between the cities of Roman Magna Graecia and their Greek past. It explores the implications of this for the relationship between the Greeks of Italy and contemporary Roman culture. The specific focus is on Elea/Velia, which offers a considerable depth of archaeological and epigraphic evidence for the Hellenistic and Roman periods. It also offers a considerable contrast with neighbouring cities of Greek origin in Italy in both the nature of Hellenism after the Roman conquest and the ways in which it was expressed, and also some similarities with Greek settlements in the western Mediterranean which share Velia's Phocaean heritage. This raises some interesting questions about which social groups set the agenda for such cultural survivals, whether they were cultural memory or invented tradition, and how they were affected by relations with Rome, other neighbouring communities and the wider Greek world.

Remembering Diana: Cultural Memory and the Reinvention of Authority. Victor Jeleniewski Seidler. York: Palgrave Macmillan, 201 3. 288 pp. $ 100 hbk.One in a series that examines the way memory shapes people and culture, Remembering Diana analyzes news reports and commentary to distill the legacy of Diana, Princess of Wales, whose funeral in 1997 was viewed by some 2.5 billion people worldwide.Seidler is a social theory professor at the University of London, and he poses a simple question, one that came to him as he and his family joined the London crowds that mourned Diana: Why would so many people behave as if they had lost a close relative or friend?This was far from the wave of mass hysteria that some reporters talked about with easy disdain. This was not hysterical grief, Seidler tells us, but it was deeply and personally felt.Dissonance between the scenes Seidler witnessed and authoritative media accounts he encountered over the years eventually prompted him to conclude that it was Diana's ability to bend the nation's power structure that people had recognized and come to grieve. Seidler is the author of several books, including recent titles Embodying Identities: Culture, Difference and Social Theory (2010) and Urban Fears and Terrors: Citizenship, Multicultures and Belongings after 7/7 (2009).Seidler believes that to dismiss people's outpouring as irrational and un-British-as many reports did-is to misunderstand societal shifts that coincided with Diana's brief reign and crystallized in response to her death. Those changes include heightened awareness of marginalized people (because of government austerity measures and the global AIDS crisis) and greater cultural and ethnic diversity because of increased immigration. Seidler also notes that the rise of celebrity culture, fed in part by Diana's own televised tell-all interview in 1995, had left some mourners feeling complicit in the media chase that led to her death in a Paris car crash.Seidler argues that British institutions and the people who lead them have been changed in at least three areas, each traceable to the princess's own identity transformation and the media's compulsion to document it. Broadly grouped, these areas are as follows: Diana's influence on more humane interpersonal relationships, especially between parents and children; a remaking of the monarchy as a symbol of compassion; and a renewed interest in altruism.As psychology has showed and this study of our response to Diana's life and death underscores, personal and societal change is not magically conferred by loss itself; the only way to achieve positive growth, either individually or in society overall, is to work at it. To do that work, Remembering Diana applies contemporary social theory, which posits that one key to making sense of a society is a greater understanding of the role of human emotions and memory in shaping us, one by one.In chapters like Myths, Icons and Images; Citizenships, Multi cultures and 'Community'; New Capitalism, Authority and Recognition; and Global Media, Future Hopes and Cultural Memories, this book identifies ways that Diana's story, as revealed by the media, became imprinted on ordinary Britons and so led to evolving expectations. …

The author begins her article with a presentation of selected tenets of the concept of cultural memory proposed by Jan and Aleida Assmann, and with reviewing analytical categories used within the framework of this theory, including the following terms: cultural memory, memory figures, memory media, a palimpsest. These concepts form a theoretical and methodological basis for the upcoming analyses. The analyses contained in the article focus around the issues of change and continuity in the cultural memory of the inhabitants of Olsztyn, as exemplified by the transformations of Olsztyn’s cityscape. The author considers two specific moments in the city’s history: 2003, which marked the 650-anniversary of the city’s settlement, and 1953, which marked the 600-anniversary of the same event. Both these anniversaries were naturally celebrated in totally diverse political and ideological contexts. The article focuses not only on the transformations of cityscape, connected to the building of new monuments, plaques, and symbols, and to the renovation of selected buildings, but also on different ways of interpreting cityscape and architectural elements of which it consists in different periods. The conclusions from the analysis form a basis for pointing out several recommendations and limitations for using the Assmanns’ concepts for researching local collective memory in Poland.

Many women with breast cancer suffer from a decline in memory and executive function, particularly after treatment with chemotherapy. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that changes in network dynamics are fundamental in decline in these cognitive functions. This has, however, not yet been investigated in breast cancer patients. Using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we prospectively investigated whether changes in dynamic functional connectivity were associated with changes in memory and executive function. We examined 34 breast cancer patients that received chemotherapy, 32 patients that did not receive chemotherapy, and 35 no-cancer controls. All participants were assessed prior to treatment and six months after completion of chemotherapy, or at similar intervals for the other groups. To assess memory and executive function, we used the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test – Immediate Recall and the Trail Making Test B, respectively. Using a sliding window approach, we then evaluated dynamic functional connectivity of resting state networks supporting memory and executive function, i.e. the default mode network and frontoparietal network, respectively. Next, we directly investigated the association between cognitive performance and dynamic functional connectivity. We found no group differences in cognitive performance or connectivity measures. The association between dynamic functional connectivity of the default mode network and memory differed significantly across groups. This was not the case for the frontoparietal network and executive function. This suggests that cancer and chemotherapy alter the role of dynamic functional connectivity in memory function. Further implications of these findings are discussed.

Form as a Mnemonic Device: Cultural Texts and Cultural Memory

This essay investigates the constellations of “double” in Meyrink’s novel Der Golem to the extent that the Golem derives its terror not from something alien or unknown but from something strangely familiar, which defeats our efforts to separate ourselves from it. According to this theory, the Golem turns out to be both the product of a psychic dissociation of the main character, due to a comeback of his “removed past” induced by hypnosis, and the Jewish ghetto’s spirit brought to life by the suffering that its inhabitants have endured over the centuries. This essay also focuses on Pernath’s process of initiation, which aims at the conquest of his cultural memory.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, we have been witnessing an increasing number of entries on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. With them, critical scientific trends describing its positive and negative effects began to emerge. In this article, I discuss the sense of such entries, showing their evaluative dimension as well as the difficulties of recognizing the areas of minority cultures as heritage - the areas which despite meeting all the entry criteria are in conflict with the modern ideas of European culture. I analyze these issues, using the Gypsy/Romani culture as an example - and more specifically the profession of bear handlers in Romania, which, due to its numerous similarities in history, training methods and folklore, I treat as representative of other European regions too. The text discusses the possible origins of this occupation, the place of the Ursari in the Romanian social structure together with their financial situation, and the attitude of the Church and State to bear handlers. It also presents the methods of animal training the Gypsies have used and passed on through the centuries, as well as the reasons why this profession has been disappearing in Romania. In the final (second) part of the article, I will discuss whether there is such a thing as the management of Ursari heritage (versus the management of inconvenient heritage), and if there is - what it entails. The article uses qualitative research methods, including the analysis of historical sources (documents from the offices of Moldovan, Wallachian and Transylvanian rulers and descriptions written by people travelling across former Romanian territories dated 14th-19th centuries) and ethnographic sources. In addition, the analysis also focuses on visual sources from Romanian territories associated with the Ursari as well as on the sources used during my own pilot ethnographic study on the cultural memory among the Roma from Romania.

Este artigo objetivou analisar a “Rota das Falésias – Cenário de Cores” no Estado do Ceará/Brasil, compreendendo este ambiente como um espaço de encontros entre diferentes culturas, a fim de analisar nomeadamente os traços distintos da cultura: caráter delimitado, irregularidade semiótica, isomorfismo, interconexão, regulação interna e profundidade diacrônica. Para efetivar o estudo, procedeu-se com a pesquisa da revisão bibliográfica, selecionando-se como fontes teses, artigos e publicações online em webpages. Como resultados, a Rota das Falésias tem certo grau de abertura com a fronteira, núcleo dominante que é representado pela praia de Canoa Quebrada, em Aracati. Ademais, tem forte tendência ao lado dextro-hemisférico, representado pelas características específicas do seu artesanato e memória cultural, formado pelas histórias do povo cearense e pela cozinha local. Por fim, o grande desafio foca-se em ajustar o centro com a periferia, especialmente na comunicação e no desenvolvimento do trabalho em redes de parcerias.

Writing and Religion in England, 1558–1689: Studies in Community-Making and Cultural Memory ROGER D. SELL and ANTHONY W. JOHNSON (Eds) Farnham, Ashgate, 2009 514 pp., ISBN: 978 0754662785, £65.00 T...

Packaging the Gifts of Nation