Prerequisits:

There are no specific prerequisites.

However, prior knowledge of basic theories of history, cultural studies and memory studies is recommended.

Content (Syllabus outline):

This course is organised around the following questions:

• How is the Memory of groups conveyed and susteined?
• What is the collective memory of society (social memory) and how it is organized and legitimated?
• Which social activities, commemorative ceremonies and practices define the collective memory and how are they related to each other?
• In which ways commemorative ceremonies embody the rites performed by the participants?
• In which ways bodily practices form a particular type of acquired symbolic capital demonstrated through ceremonies?

Similarly to Paul Connerton we believe that commemorative ceremonies prove to be commemorative only in so far as they are performative; performativity cannot be thought without a concept of habit; and habit cannot be thought without a notion of bodily automatisms.

Readings:

• Paul Conerton, How Societies Remeber, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1989;
• Martin Pogačar, Media Archeologies, MacMillian, London2016;
• Micahel Rothberg, Multidirectional Memory, Stanford University Press, Redwood City 2009;
• Daniel L. Schacter, Searching for Memory, Harper Collins, New York 1996

Objectives and competences:

Lectures and individual work will help students develop the ability to critically analyse and interpret collective memory processes in a historical and social perspective, and to develop academic writing skills, which will contribute to their scientific and professional development.

Intended learning outcomes:

Students will use the knowledge acquired in the course to produce a scientific contribution that can serve as a draft of a dissertation chapter or a research article. In doing so, they will develop the ability to critically analyse and interpret processes of collective memory in a historical and social perspective, and enhance their academic writing skills, contributing to their scientific and professional.

Learning and teaching methods:

Types of learning/teaching:

• Frontal teaching
• Work in smaller groups or pair work
• Independent students work
• e-learning

Teaching methods:

• Explanation
• Conversation/discussion/debate
• Work with texts
• Case studies

Assessment:

• Long written assignments 80 %
• Final examination (written/oral) 20 %

Lecturer’s references:

• LUTHAR, Oto, VERGINELLA, Marta, STRLE, Urška. Užaljeno maščevanje : spomin na italijanska fašistična taborišča. 1. izd. Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2023. 378 str. Zbirka Kulturni spomin. ISBN 978-961-05-0692-8.
• LUTHAR, Oto, PETROVIĆ, Tanja, BIEBER, Florian. Understanding Southeastern Europe and the former Yugoslavia in the new millennium : studies, politics, and perspectives. V: GRUBER, Siegfried (ur.), et al. From the highlands to Hollywood : multidisciplinary perspectives on Southeastern Europe : Festschrift for Karl Kaser and SEEHA. Zürich: Lit, 2020. Str. 87-109. Studies on South East Europe, vol. 25. ISBN 978-3-643-91194-0.
• PUŠNIK, Maruša, LUTHAR, Oto, POGAČAR, Martin. The landscape of mediatised remembrance. V: PUŠNIK, Maruša (ur.), LUTHAR, Oto (ur.). The media of memory. Paderborn: F. Schöningh, an imprint of the Brill-Group, cop. 2020. Str. 3-21. Balkan studies library, vol. 29. ISBN 978-3-506-70447-4.
• LUTHAR, Oto. Monuments, mediatisation and memory politics : the Slovenian post-socialist memorial landscape in transit. V: PUŠNIK, Maruša (ur.), LUTHAR, Oto (ur.). The media of memory. Paderborn: F. Schöningh, an imprint of the Brill-Group, cop. 2020. Str. 25-42. Balkan studies library, vol. 29. ISBN 978-3-506-70447-4.
• LUTHAR, Oto. The sanitation of Slovenian post-socialist memorial landscape. V: LUTHAR, Oto (ur.), UHL, Heidemarie (ur.). The memory of guilt revisited : the Slovenian post-socialist remembrance landscape in transition. Göttingen: V & R unipress, cop. 2019. Jg. 46, h. 2, str. 261-273, 297. Zeitgeschichte, Jg. 46, H. 2. ISBN 978-3-8471-1007-1.
• LUTHAR, Oto. Post-communist memory culture and the historiography of the Second World War and the post-war execution of Slovenian colaborationists. Politička misao. 2018, vol. 55, no. 2, str. 33-49. ISSN 0032-3241.