The Spirit of Mourning: History, Memory and the Body

Paul Connerton

Sept 2011 · Cambridge University Press

About this eBook

How is the memory of traumatic events, such as genocide and torture, inscribed within human bodies? In this book, Paul Connerton discusses social and cultural memory by looking at the role of mourning in the production of histories and the reticence of silence across many different cultures. In particular he looks at how memory is conveyed in gesture, bodily posture, speech and the senses – and how bodily memory, in turn, becomes manifested in cultural objects such as tattoos, letters, buildings and public spaces. It is argued that memory is more cultural and collective than it is individual. This book will appeal to researchers and students in anthropology, linguistic anthropology, sociology, social psychology and philosophy.

About the author

Paul Connerton is a Research Associate in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Fellow in the Institute of Germanic and Romance Studies at the University of London. His recent publications include How Modernity Forgets (Cambridge University Press, 2009).