Discourses of Memory: Medieval Perspectives on the Past
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Institute for Collaborative Research in the Humanities, Queen's Univ. Belfast
Organizer Name
Margaret Tedford
Organizer Affiliation
Queen's Univ. Belfast
Presider Name
Duncan Berryman
Presider Affiliation
Queen's Univ. Belfast
Paper Title 1
In Defense of the "Old Dirty Past"? John Dee’s Library as Monument to History
Presenter 1 Name
Rachel Reid
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Queen's Univ. Belfast
Paper Title 2
"For þer ys euer a batell betwyx þe soull and þe body": Apathy and Medieval Depictions of a Biblical Past
Presenter 2 Name
Natalie Calder
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Queen's Univ. Belfast
Paper Title 3
A Space for the Past: Locating Memory in Landscape in Anglo-Saxon England
Presenter 3 Name
Margaret Tedford
Start Date
15-5-2015 1:30 PM
Session Location
Bernhard 159
Description
In discussing historiography, Geoffrey Cubitt argues that:
"In social and historical discourse (if not strict philosophical necessity), the past is always the past of something – a group, a community, a state, a nation, a race, a society, a civilization ... the past in question is our past, the past that ... belongs to us as a constituitive element in our common identity. Representations of the collective past hinge, in other words, on backward projections of current perceptions of identity" (2007: 199-200).
This quotation demonstrates the significance of how a person or society engages with their past. Any historical discourse is not simply a re-telling of the past but a re-imagining of it that is heavily influenced by the perspectives and concerns of those articulating it.
This session will explore medieval perspectives on the past and how various medieval communities use and interpret elements of their history, for example through textual translation, works of historiography, and the re-use of landscapes and monuments of past societies.
Margaret Tedford
Discourses of Memory: Medieval Perspectives on the Past
Bernhard 159
In discussing historiography, Geoffrey Cubitt argues that:
"In social and historical discourse (if not strict philosophical necessity), the past is always the past of something – a group, a community, a state, a nation, a race, a society, a civilization ... the past in question is our past, the past that ... belongs to us as a constituitive element in our common identity. Representations of the collective past hinge, in other words, on backward projections of current perceptions of identity" (2007: 199-200).
This quotation demonstrates the significance of how a person or society engages with their past. Any historical discourse is not simply a re-telling of the past but a re-imagining of it that is heavily influenced by the perspectives and concerns of those articulating it.
This session will explore medieval perspectives on the past and how various medieval communities use and interpret elements of their history, for example through textual translation, works of historiography, and the re-use of landscapes and monuments of past societies.
Margaret Tedford