• Lingua Humanitatis
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.67-90
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• 2001

In the past few years, a trend has emerged emphasizing the interdisciplinary relationship between cultural and literary studies, and "memory" has been suggested as the central theme in this trend. According to Aleida and Jan Assmann, "memory" as collective memory (not individual recollection) has various functions and forms, of which communicative memory and cultural memory occupy opposite poles of a central axis. Whereas communicative memory relates to the living past shared among contemporaries, cultural memory relates to "recollected history" rather than factual history. Cultural memory finds transmission through symbolic media such as myths, festivities, and literary works. Literary works preserve critical and living memories as opposed to forgotten memories. In other words, literature should be better read as "criticism and memory" than "imitation and preservation." Works of literature are characterized by a turning away from repetition toward representation-the process of "making present" of what is past.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
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• v.52
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• pp.417-446
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• 2018

The culture of memory in France regarding slavery and slave trade has slowly been expanding its horizons: from limited perspective focusing on abrogation of slavery to inclusion of discussion on real experiences and suffering of African slaves. This change has been particularly noticeable since the 150th anniversary of abrogation of slavery in France in 1998. It was the year that citizens of French overseas territories that had internalized this painful and shameful history of suffering formed a visible social movement. For the last two decades, the French government has also demonstrated consistent, proactive and prompt response to discussions of issues rooted in slavery in overseas territories, wherein slavery is the root of fundamental problems. In particular, when the Taubira Law (2001) was passed in the Senate, the Committee for the Memory of Slavery was established. This committee has since contributed to better assessment and understanding of French history of slavery and slave trade. Such was the profound as well as significant change in public perception as well as in legal and social aspects that culminated in the 2015 establishment of $M{\acute{e}}morial$ ACTe, Caribbean Centre of Expression and Memory of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Guadeloupe. Reflecting on those historic moments in recent French history, this paper examines major debates in French society regarding establishment of the $M{\acute{e}}morial$ ACTe. It assesses how Aleida Assmann's "cultural memory" was created with the establishment of $M{\acute{e}}morial$ ACTe and how it has contributed to the new cultural identity of French overseas territories.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.103-123
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• 2024

The traumatic experiences of people from peripheral islands are susceptible to mnemocide. Such erasure of memory is facilitated by "defensive and complicit forgetting," which, according to Aleida Assmann, leads to "protection of perpetrators." My paper reflects on the vulnerability of traumas from the islands to mnemocide by looking into [1] the massacre of communists and civilians on Jeju Island, South Korea in 1948 as described in Hyun-Kil Un's short story "Dead Silence" (2017; English trans.) and [2] the eviction of residents and indigenous people from Calauit Island, Philippines for the creation of a safari in 1976 as imagined in Annette A. Ferrer's "Pablo and the Zebra" (2017). In "Dead Silence," I direct the attention to how to the execution of the villagers-witnesses to the death of the communist guerillas-is a three-pronged violence: it is a transgression committed against the innocent civilians; an act of "erasing traces to cover up" the military crackdown on the island; and, by leaving the corpses out in the open, a display of impunity. In "Pablo and the Zebra," I second that both residents (i.e., humans and animals) experience post-traumatic stress because of their respective displacements; thus, the tension between them has got to stop. Curiously, while it concludes with a reconciliatory gesture between an elder and a zebra, no character demanded a reparation for their traumatic past per se. Could the latter be symptomatic of a silence that lets such violence "remain concealed for a long time"?

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.11
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• pp.368-377
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• 2020

In this paper, the transmission and the phases of the memories in the novels dealing with Vietnam War have been studied. As a research method, Aleida Assmann's memory theory which plays a role in culturoloy theory is utilized. This study shows firstly that the others' voices excluded from the official memories of Vietnam War have emerged. Vietnam War novels released after 1990s actively reflecting the others' voices transmitted fresh the cultural memories. As the stories of civilian massacre, defoliant victims, and children of mixed bloods, Lai Daihan excluded from the official memories have emerged as a main them in the Vietnam War novels, they have become resistant memories. Existence and Formality, a Vietnam War novel by Bang Hyeonsuk brings up how to remember Vietnam War. His another novel, Time to Eat Lobster shows that without the fundamental retrospect and introspection of Vietnam War, Korea can't help but have the identity of America. Secondly, this paper shows that the tragedy of Vietnam War remains as a trauma that human bodies remember. White War by Ahn Jeonghyo shows that the memory moves back to the past in the process of struggle. In the novel, Slow Bullet by Lee Daehwan the phases of demage from defoliants lead to the family's tragedy. The Red Ao Dai by O Hyeonmi shows how a Korean-Vietnamese overcomes negation of his father and win his identity. In A Sad Song in Saigon shows that a mixed blood, Sairang who suffered from the confusion of his identity and his story fell down to a romance novel because of the weakness of narrative.