Round Table On New Book Of AUP Professor
A round table on the book Beyond the Archive: Memory, Narrative, and the Autobiographical Process, written by Jens Brockmeier, a professor of American University of Paris, took place on Friday, Nov. 6th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Université Paris Diderot. Wine and cheese were provided for free.
The book offers such a perspective, synthesizing understandings of remembering from the neurosciences, humanities, social studies, and in key works of autobiographical literature and life-writing. Usually, the notion of memory from the past suggests that our memory capacity is distinctive so we can "encode," "store," and "recall" past experience naturally. However, after Brockmeier's far-raging studies, it shows that our memory ability and forms are strongly influenced by our natural background. This is a completely different and way more complex explanation than any notion of memory before. With the new theory, Brockmeier describes a alternative way of storing memory as the narrative approach. With the narrative approach, we can not only study our autobiographical memory, but also the interrelations among memory, self, and culture.
Image credit: The History of Modern Biomedicine
Professor Jens Brockmeier received his degrees in psychology and philosophy from Freie Universität Berlin where he was awarded his Habilitation in psychology. Professor Brockmeier joined the American University of Paris in January 2014. His recent publication includes Cultura e Narrazione [Culture and Narrative]; Beyond Loss: Dementia, Memory, and Identity; and the paperback edition of Literacy, Narrative and Culture.
