The Spirit of Mourning
History, Memory and the Body

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.

Reviews & endorsements

'The many admirers of Paul Connerton's work will be delighted with this new volume. From tattooing and quilt-making to Dogon architecture, Great Plains sign language, and Quaker meeting practices, from the Oresteia to Kant, and Quintilian to Bachelard, Connerton knows everything. He also knows how to deploy his knowledge in the service of a formidable analytic intelligence. Profound, moving, and inexhaustibly learned, his gently persistent but firmly structured investigation of history and silence, culture and forgetting, is as eloquent as it is original.' Nicholas Boyle, Schröder Professor of German, University of Cambridge, and President, Magdalene College, Cambridge

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Product details

• Date Published: December 2011
• format: Paperback
• isbn: 9781107648838
• length: 190 pages

• dimensions: 228 x 153 x 10 mm
• weight: 0.31kg
• availability: Available