The Spirit of Mourning: History, Memory and the Body

by Paul Connerton

Overview

How is the memory of traumatic events, such as genocide and torture, inscribed within human bodies? In this book, Paul Connerton discusses social and cultural memory by looking at the role of mourning in the production of histories and the reticence of silence across many different cultures. In particular he looks at how memory is conveyed in gesture, bodily posture, speech and the senses – and how bodily memory, in turn, becomes manifested in cultural objects such as tattoos, letters, buildings and public spaces. It is argued that memory is more cultural and collective than it is individual. This book will appeal to researchers and students in anthropology, linguistic anthropology, sociology, social psychology and philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107648838
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	09/29/2011
Pages:	190
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Paul Connerton is a Research Associate in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow in the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies at the University of London. His recent publications include How Modernity Forgets (Cambridge University Press, 2009).

Table of Contents

1. The birth of histories from the spirit of mourning; 2. Seven types of forgetting; 3. Silences; 4. Spatial orientation; 5. Tradition as conversation and tradition as bodily re-enactment; 6. Tattoos, masks, skin; 7. Emphatic, mimetic and cosmic projection.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Advance Quote: "Drawing on a remarkable range of materials from many cultures and eras, Paul Connerton excavates with deft precision the bodily basis of history, memory, and mourning. Reading this book will change the way you view the trajectory of your life and that of others.” —Edward Casey, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at SUNY, Stony Brook

Editorial Reviews

Advance Quote: "Drawing on a remarkable range of materials from many cultures and eras, Paul Connerton excavates with deft precision the bodily basis of history, memory, and mourning. Reading this book will change the way you view the trajectory of your life and that of others.” —Edward Casey, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at SUNY, Stony Brook

From the Publisher