Founded in fall 2018, the Working Group in Memory Studies brings together faculty and graduate students from across the humanities and social sciences who are interested in the interdisciplinary field of cultural memory studies.

Cultural memory studies focuses on the dynamic interplay between the past and the present in local, national, and transnational contexts and can involve the study of works of art and literature; memorials and monuments; processes of reparation, reconciliation, and transitional justice; activist movements; media; and more. In recent years the field has grown rapidly and there is now an international Memory Studies Association.

The Working Group plans to hold regular reading group meetings this academic year where they will discuss important work in the field. In the past they’ve met with visiting speakers; hosted works-in-progress sessions; and organized conferences.

The first reading group meeting of the quarter will take place on Thursday, November 13 from 3:30-5:00 pm in 348 Kaplan. Light refreshments will be provided.

The reading group will be discussing Astrid Erll’s “The Hidden Power of Implicit Collective Memory” (2022) and Ben Ratskoff’s “Prosthetic Trauma at the Nova Exhibition: Holocaust Memory, Reenactment, and the Affective Reproduction of Genocidal Nightmares” (2025). The essays are available in the group’s Box folder and should be read in advance.

All are welcome to attend regardless of whether you are already familiar with the field or are interested in discovering a new theoretical and methodological approach.

If you would like to be added to the group’s mailing list so that you are aware of future events or have any questions about the group, please contact Michael Rothberg (mrothberg@humnet.ucla.edu).