Temporal and Narrative (Dis)junctures: Guillermo Núñez’s Aesthetics of Memory and the Museum of Memory and Human Rights (Santiago,Chile)

Focusing primarily on Guillermo Núñez’s work, this essay juxtaposes two almost-identical exhibits of his ‘exculturas’ (sic: xculptures/ex-cultures) – one at the Chilean-French Cultural Institute in 1975, which resulted in his detention and exile, the other in 2010 for the official inauguration of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights (MM) – to explore their relationships to memory production in Chile four decades after the military coup. In the first, Núñez offered a pointed critique of the repressive post-coup context through a series of caged and netted objects; the second reconstructed the first as a memory gesture, framed within the ultra-modern, state-sponsored MM, in its designated art space, at once included and physically separated from the historical narrative of the Museum. How do the politics, aesthetics and design of the MM work to complement, complicate, or contradict Núñez’s – and, perhaps, any – artistic proposal? What challenges might the aesthetic of memory in Núñez’s work pose to the Museum’s narrative frame? Examining Núñez’s ‘exculturas’ (and, briefly, Gonzalo Díaz’s reconstructed Lonquén) reveals several tensions – around politics of inclusion and exclusion, the state’s role in memorysites, and the relationships between human rights concerns and museological and artistic strategies – marking the social production of memory in Chile today.     

Memory,Trauma, and the French-Algerian War: Michael Haneke's Caché (2005)

This article examines Michael Haneke's 2005 film Caché and its treatment of the October 1961 massacre in light of recent scholarship about memory and trauma. It argues that the film demands of its viewers a complex, critical position, requiring us not merely to passively re-witness the traumatising events of 17 October, but to take on as spectators a more active role in the work of remembering. The article examines narrative and visual elements in the film in order to demonstrate how Caché illustrates and questions how film and other media forms contribute to the working through of collective trauma and, in so doing, function as potential ‘sites of memory’.     

In Memory of Tibetologist Yang Huaqun

ＩｎＭｅｍｏｒｙｏｆＴｉｂｅｔｏｌｏｇｉｓｔＹａｎｇＨｕａｑｕｎｂｙＤｏｊｅＺｈａｍｄｕｉＩｎｅｖｅｒｅｘｐｅｃｔｅｄＹａｎｇ，ａｆａｍｏｕｓＴｉｂｅｔｏｌｏｇｉｓｔａｎｄａｐｒｏｆｅｓｓｏｒｗｉｔｈｔｈｅＴｉｂｅｔＵｎｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｙ，ｗｏｕｌｄｄ...     

Memory Mapping: Affect,Place, and Testimony in El Lugar Más Pequeño (2011)

This article examines the Salvadoran documentary El Lugar Más Pequeño (The Tiniest Place, 2011) and argues that the film gives new insight into the complicated spaces and practices of memory post-transition and post-conflict through a process I call ‘memory mapping,’ which I define as the aesthetic process of representing the affective, polyvocal, layered relationship between past, present, and place as experienced by individuals and the communities in which they live. Engaging primarily with affect and memory theory, I contend that the film maps post-conflict memory in two specific ways: first, through testimony, and second, through an exploration of the relationship between memory and place. Ultimately, I argue that memory mapping sheds new light on how the aftermath of conflict – the physical, but also the emotional ruination caused by violence – is negotiated in the everyday of human life.     

In Memory of the Late Tibetologist Lobsang Quzha

ThemeresightofsourmilkalwaysremindsmeofLobsangQuzha,whoseChinesenameisKangGangmin.OfalltheTibetansIhaveknown,heisoneIwillneverforget.Thoughhedied13yearsearlieraged77,heseemstobestillalive.LobsangQuzhawasbornintoapoorTibetanpeasantfamilyin1980inLixianCounty,Aba,Sichuan.At16,hismotherdecidedtohavehimtonsuredtoamonasteryinLhasaaccordingtothewillofhislatefather.Drivenbypoverty,hebeggedhiswaytohisdestinationandbecameamonkwithGandainMonastery.Oneyearlater,heturnedtostudyintheSeraMonasteryun…     

In Memory of the 10th Panchen Erdeni

he10thPanchenErdenihasbeengonefromusforeightsharpyears.HissmilesandwhathedidfortheTibetansaresofreshinmymindthatImisshimverymuch.IfirstmettheBuddhistmasterinthelate-197oswhenChina,havingexperi-encedthe1o-yearordealduringthechaotic"culturalrevolution",wasb…     

From Neo-Francoist Memory to Political Feeling in Narratives of Unearthing: Sánchez Dragó's Muertes Paralelas (2006) and Andrés Trapiello's Ayer no más (2012)

This article analyzes the novels Muertes paralelas and Ayer no más as representatives of two clearly defined perspectives within the Spanish twenty-first century narrative production on unearthing the past of Francoism. The symbolic construction of unearthing permits an investigation of the remnants of a neo-Francoist vision of the legacy of the civil war, while opening the view of a political feeling by which personal memory inserts itself most profoundly as a commitment to a more comprehensive and lasting closure of the past.     

In Memory of the 6th Living Buddha Razheng

OneFebruarynight,acallfromLhasacausedmedistress.Itwasacallfromafriend.WhenIfirstheardhisvoice,Iwaswildwithjoy.Wehadnotspokentoeachotherforalongtime.Buthisnewswasreallysad:The6thLivingBuddha,alsoafriendofmine,passedawayonFebruary13.IcametoknowtheLivingBudd…     

“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”: Archaeology and Construction of Memory of Military Repression in South America (1960–1980)

During the era of dictatorships in Latin America, opposition was controlled by different methods—such as exile, detention, and murder. Repressive devices were reinforced by means of limiting information to ordinary people. Written sources on clandestine repression are scarce and fragmentary. As a matter of fact, most documents on the subject were destroyed by military regimes in recent past. Therefore, archaeological analyses might help us to shed light on repressive mechanisms, recovering missing people’s history and remains.     

卖(玨丁)人(傣族)

一这是一个古老的国都,人们叫它曼勐撒,意思是长乐的京城。今天正是赕佛的日子,城边那高耸入云的象牙塔、椰树簇拥着的奘房都装点得更加金碧辉煌。潮水一样的人流,跟随着象脚鼓声,从四而八方汇集到象牙塔下的草坪。在这虔诚而又欢乐的人群中,一个背着一捆七弦琴的穷苦青年,缓步来到象牙塔下,一看便知这是一个漂游天涯的卖人。他名叫宰西,他今天不是来卖场,而是和别人一样,怀着虔诚的心来赕佛,祈求佛祖赐予幸福和吉祥。当人们在象牙塔下一排排下跪合掌时,他也尾随在后,把包头放在地上,仰望着金塔,向佛祖表白自己纯洁的心     

Narrative Identity and Trauma: Sebald’s Memory Landscape

Narrative identity is said to consist of a few key reference points—places, events, peoples, ceremonies, rites, ideas, and values—that translate into sites of memory that are representative of a person’s or a community’s past. In this essay I explore the role of traumatic memories in the formation of collective identity, the national or transnational sites of memory that are officialized by the state. I argue that collective traumas need to be counterbalanced by personal memories that can diminish their pain and thus enable people to regain their lost sense of being at home. To demonstrate this claim I discuss the twentieth-century traumas that have affected European identity by and through the life stories of W. G. Sebald’s characters in The Emigrants (1992) and Austerlitz (2001), which combines the collective and the personal narrative identity. I conclude that the performative aspect of the past needs to be translated into personal forms of commemoration that surpass the official memory archive, which task requires a comprehensive and sensitive understanding of those traumas at both the individual and collective levels.     

Memory that governs by itself? Appropriations of Versailles memory

Abstract

Versailles memory has been a cornerstone of the traditional paradigm of lieux de mémoire. However, its transnational dimension has never been fully explored. Covering more than three centuries, this article identifies three antagonistic patterns of transnational Versailles memory that carry ambivalent references to ‘Europe’: war versus peace; monarchical versus republican legitimization; and universalistic versus particularistic conceptions of power. Actors referred to Versailles’ architecture to substantiate their positions toward French hegemonic ambitions: from counter-buildings by the Sun King’s rivals; political redefinitions during changing regimes after 1789 via Franco-German rivalries in the War of 1870; international reactions to the Peace Conference in 1919; and up to Versailles as a World Heritage Site. Analysing these three constitutive patterns, this article challenges the dominant Franco-centrist Versailles master narrative as non-French actors contested such hegemonic views. References to Versailles as a symbol of both American and Brazilian national independence also bring out global dimensions of Versailles memory.     

(门皿)翁主釭(钅展)

(门皿)翁主釭(钅展)是商承祚先生1941年在长沙采访所得,原出土于长沙东门外柳家大山,现藏南京大学历史系文物室。所谓釭(钅展)即铜灯的一种。此灯颜色淡绿,通高32.5厘米,重九斤六两(4800克),由釭、(钅展)、罩、盖四部分组成。釭形如鼎,直领圆腹,腹中部有阳弦纹一圈,圜底,三足作蹄状,足高14、腹径20厘米。肩部左右伸出一对向上弯曲的烟管,管径3厘米,与盖顶两个下垂的烟管相衔接。釭内可以盛水。(钅展)即灯盘,底部有圈足嵌入釭口。盘有     

喊(玨丁)喊别(傣族)

头歌年轻英俊的小伙子呵,你为谁弹响动听的五弦 琴?年轻漂亮的小姑娘呵,你为谁拨动悦耳的金口 弦?是望见了竹楼上的月 亮,还是瞧着了草坪上的星 星J对调男;多情的黄昏已经离去, 甜蜜的夜晚来到坝子。 当我挎上心爱的五弦 琴, 就好象听见碰响的银 器, 那一闪一闪的乌黑发 辫, 老早映在了我的心窝 里。 月光好比银色的地毯, 招引我悄悄走出寨子。女,我把月亮当作明镜, 背着爹妈梳妆打扮, 待客的槟榔和草烟, 也都摆在了蔑桌上。 纺线手车轻轻地摇呵, 渴望的心在深深地盼, 54 粉红的宝石什么时侯才 闪亮? 好听的琴声什么时候落 心房?男:凤尾竹…     

通(化)辑(安)铁路破袭战

正通辑铁路全长约115千米,是梅河口至通化铁路接向辑安的延长线。日军侵占东北后,为加速掠夺东北地区的战略资源、输送兵力物资及"讨伐"通化地区抗日武装,遂将侵略目光转移到鸭绿江畔的辑安县,从1937年3月开始增修吉林通化至辽宁辑安(今属吉林省集安市)铁路,企图越过鸭绿江与纵贯朝鲜半岛的平壤至满浦铁路接轨,构成日本伸向中国东北     

“Comrade Mzala”: Memory Construction and Legacy Preservation

Adopting the broad inter-disciplinary concept of “memory” and its construction in a public sphere, I examine some of the ways in which memories of Jabulani Nobleman Nxumalo, known as “Comrade Mzala” in liberation struggle circles, have been constructed and kept alive since his passing. A leading activist of the ANC, MK and the SACP, Mzala succumbed to an illness in a London hospital on February 22, 1991. A number of commemorative events and other activities, including grass-roots and branch-level initiatives, media releases, memorial lectures, colloquia and speeches and tributary statements, are analysed. Their tone, emotion, style and implicit objectives are explored. Notwithstanding the ubiquitous recognition of Mzala's liberation struggle credentials and intellectual prowess, there is no homogeneity in the manner he is remembered and celebrated; nor is there agreement in the reading of Mzala in a post-apartheid South Africa and its associated political and socio- economic context. Moreover, whilst it is predominantly organisations and individuals within the Tripartite Alliance who have been the main proponents of remembering, honouring and memorialising Mzala, there are others, outside of the Alliance and even antagonistic, who find inspiration in his radical world outlook, work and persona; and often use their memory of Mzala to critique the current political and economic conjuncture.     

天鹅湖(外一首)

图强镇西有个小湖,名为天鹤湖。每年草绿花开之时,天鹅从远方 飞来,实乃一大景观。 登山遥义天鹅湖,轻烟淡荡映茅芦。 水藏珍撰鱼情盛,草汇瓦药岸色殊。 风卷碧波千浪地,雨润红花一香途。 人路何处不称好?我在此中不畏蜀。 五英巨 图强镇北三亭山上有五英石,传说为五英女化身,栩栩如生,维妙 维肖,乃一大景观。 五英千古烦风流 坚定勇敢争自由 、、只求爱情得纯正京姿 ~姆里不畏强暴扰敌仇浦丐勺 ,么‘碧血竟献著青史贾冲 尸骨不老变石头 只因无人报功信 该封侯时未封侯天鹅湖(外一首)@时若涛~~     

树王(汉族)

楸木树是森林中了不起的木材。它长得高大、粗壮、结实。当它最初来到人间为人类尽职的时候,身穿花衣裳,浑身散发着沁人心脾的醇香,堂堂一表。它长在山上,几十年以至几百年,蛆不吃,虫不蛀,越长越健壮,寿命可算是长的了。由于它品质优良,身材高大,性格坚韧,赢得了人们的重用。很多巨大的房屋建筑都用它做梁做柱,山区很多大桥都用它建造,人们还用它制作