Editorial: Memory Studies

Abstract

This special issue of Alternation is the result of the Memory Studies Symposium that we organised in September 2013, but our academic research and personal interest in the field of memory has a long history for each of us. In 2012, Sabine proposed the introduction of an interdisciplinary postgraduate degree programme in Memory Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). It was meant to provide a rigorous theoretical grounding for students with undergraduate foundations in many different academic disciplines and draw on staff resources and research expertise from across the university. The initial research for this initiative revealed that a substantial number of academic staff and postgraduate students, mostly from the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education, but also from as far afield as Mathematics, concern themselves with researching aspects of personal or collective forms of memory. The proposed degree in Memory Studies was eventually rejected by the university on the basis that 'memory is too narrow to qualify as a designator'. Philippe then suggested organising a symposium that would bring together interested parties across the university and locally based institutions (notably museums and archives). The well attended one-day event served as an initial platform for networking, sharing information and showcasing current research undertaken in the field. The multifaceted character of the papers presented and the debates they engendered, certainly illustrated how 'wide' the field of memory is. Participants voiced an interest in repeating and expanding the initiative, as well as publishing the best papers in a special journal issue. In a most recent study based on an on-line survey with self-identified memory scholars worldwide, Segesten and Wüstenberg (unpublished manuscript 2014) investigated the extent to which Memory Studies has established itself as an academic field internationally and to what degree it