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Selective Memory (selective + memory)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Humanities and Social Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Selective Memory: Contesting Architecture and Urbanism at Potsdam's Stadtschloss and Alter Markt

GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 4 2010
Adam Sharr
ABSTRACT This paper is about the curious phenomenon whereby GDR-era modernist buildings in Germany are being demolished and substituted with new buildings which appear older than those they replace. The most famous example is the ,reconstruction' of Berlin's Stadtschloss on the site of the GDR's Palast der Republik. This discussion concerns a lesser-known project: the ,reconstruction' of Potsdam's Stadtschloss. The project involves re-housing the Brandenburg ,Landtag' in a new structure with classical façades which replicate the Prussian palace that formerly stood on the site, and densifying the surrounding district in order to return it to an approximation of the pre-war layout. The Stadtschloss building will be a concrete-framed structure , like the modernist buildings to be demolished , but this time faced with classical decoration in brick and stone. The paper argues that this project displays a strange insecurity about the present and a desire to return to some nostalgic image of the ,olden days', replacing the recent past with a looser image of an older past. It concludes by discussing a polemical counter-proposal which seeks to make current values apparent architecturally as another historical layer in the city fabric. It argues against the selective removal of previous architecture, recommending instead that multiple interpretations and the images of multiple pasts might co-exist simultaneously. Dieser Artikel beschäftigt sich mit einem interessanten Phänomen in Deutschland, nämlich mit dem Abriss moderner Bauten aus DDR-Zeiten und ihrer Ersetzung durch neue Gebäude, die allerdings älter aussehen als die, die sie ersetzen. Das berühmteste Beispiel dafür ist die ,Rekonstruktion' des Berliner Stadtschlosses genau an der Stelle, an der voher der Palast der Republik gestanden hat. Allerdings geht es hier um ein weniger bekanntes Beispiel: um die ,Rekonstruktion' des Potsdamer Stadtschlosses. Zum Projekt gehört sowohl der Umzug des Brandenburger Landtags in ein neues Gebäude, dessen klassische Fassaden dem ehemals an dieser Stelle stehenden preußischen Palast gleichen, als auch die entsprechende architektonische Verdichtung und Angleichung des gesamten umliegenden Bezirks an die Zeit vor den Weltkriegen. Wie die modernen DDR-Gebäude, die es ersetzt, wird das Stadtschloss im Grunde aus einem Betongerüst bestehen, dessen Fassade nun allerdings mit Backsteinen und Stein eingefasst sein wird. Meine These ist, dass dieses Projekt auf eine seltsame Unsicherheit gegenüber der Gegenwart und auf ein nostalgisches Verlangen nach der ,guten alten Zeit' schließen lässt, wobei die jüngste Vergangenheit mit Fassaden aus einer weiter zurückliegenden Geschichte zugedeckt werden soll. Als Schlussfolgerung biete ich einen Gegenentwurf an, der auf den Werten der Gegenwartsgeschichte als einer von vielen Schichten im Gewebe der Stadt besteht. Statt ältere architektonische Merkmale selektiv zu entfernen, befürworte ich eine Stadtplanung, die viele verschiedene Interpretationen und Bilder aus einer komplexen Vergangenheit nebeneinander stehen und zulassen kann. [source]

Selective memory and memory deficits in depressed inpatients

DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 4 2003
Thomas Ellwart Dipl.
Abstract We investigated memory impairment and mood-congruent memory bias in depression, using an explicit memory test and an implicit one. Thirty-six severely depressed inpatients that fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder and 36 healthy controls matched for sex, age, and educational level participated in the study. Explicit memory was assessed with a free recall task and implicit memory with an anagram solution task. Results showed that depressed and controls differed in explicit memory performance, depending on the amount of cognitive distraction between incidental learning and testing. Implicit memory was not affected. In addition, severely depressed patients showed a mood-congruent memory bias in implicit memory but not in explicit memory. The complex pattern of results is discussed with regard to relevant theories of depression. Depression and Anxiety 17:197,206, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Shame as a traumatic memory,

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 4 2010
Marcela Matos
Abstract Background: This study explores the premise that shame episodes can have the properties of traumatic memories, involving intrusions, flashbacks, strong emotional avoidance, hyper arousal, fragmented states of mind and dissociation. Method: A battery of self-report questionnaires was used to assess shame, shame traumatic memory and depression in 811 participants from general population (481 undergraduate students and 330 subjects from normal population). Results: Results show that early shame experiences do indeed reveal traumatic memory characteristics. Moreover, these experiences are associated with current feelings of internal and external shame in adulthood. We also found that current shame and depression are significantly related. Key to our findings is that those individuals whose shame memories display more traumatic characteristics show more depressive symptoms. A moderator analysis suggested an effect of shame traumatic memory on the relationship between shame and depression. Limitations: The transversal nature of our study design, the use of self-reports questionnaires, the possibility of selective memories in participants' retrospective reports and the use of a general community sample, are some methodological limitations that should be considered in our investigation. Conclusion: Our study presents novel perspectives on the nature of shame and its relation to psychopathology, empirically supporting the proposal that shame memories have traumatic memory characteristics, that not only affect shame in adulthood but also seem to moderate the impact of shame on depression. Therefore, these considerations emphasize the importance of assessing and intervening on shame memories in a therapeutic context.,Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message: Early shame experiences reveal traumatic memory characteristics and are related to current shame and to psychopathology. Individuals whose shame memories have more traumatic characteristics are those who show more depressive symptoms. Shame traumatic memories moderate the relationship between shame and depression, hence to the same shame, individuals who experienced shame as more traumatic are the ones who show more depressive symptoms. Therapy for shame-based problems needs to incorporate strategies to assess and address individuals shame traumatic memories. [source]

Reconciliation and Political Legitimacy: The Old Australia and the New South Africa

AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND HISTORY, Issue 2 2003
Paul Muldoon
In both Australia and South Africa a state-sponsored discourse of reconciliation has been deployed as a tool of national integration and state building. This usage has tended to encourage a politics of selective memory that runs contrary to the spirit of reconciliation as recognition of different views of the nation. This article seeks to recover (and promote) a more positive concept of reconciliation by treating it as a discursive, democratic space in which different versions of the national story can be acknowledged and negotiated. The cases of Australia and South Africa are used in a mutually illuminating way to explore what "telling the truth" about the past might mean and how such "truth-telling" might help restore legitimacy to liberal states confronted with a "broken moral order". [source]