Memory Waka

Memory Connection Journal

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Introduction

Ekaterina Haskins

Abstract

Our culture is preoccupied with memory. Various forms of memory—anniversaries, museums, monuments, and memoirs—clamour for our attention in both physical and virtual spaces and receive a lion’s share of publicity in mainstream media and academic discourse.  Forgetting, on the other hand, is almost always seen as memory’s dark ‘other’, as an unfortunate withering away of memory or a deliberate erasure of past traces. However, the valourisation of memory blinds us to the affinity between memory and forgetting and compels us to put our faith into comforting forms and formulas of remembrance. As a result, we often develop habitual ways of relating to the past and lose sight of the past as a resource for acting in the present. The essays and artists’ statements collected in this special issue explore what it is like to break away from ready-made templates for remembering and to examine the intimate link between memory and forgetting.