Echoes of the Past: Exploring the Intersection of Memory, Culture, and History

As part of the MA programme’s engagement with memory studies and cultural space, an onsite visit was organised to a ruined house of historical and cultural significance. The visit aimed to enable students to examine how memory operates within lived and abandoned spaces, and how such sites function as repositories of collective, cultural, and historical narratives. The ruined structure, marked by visible decay and layered architectural traces, provided a compelling context for exploring the relationship between memory, space, and identity beyond textual sources.

One of the primary objectives of the visit was to trace collective and cultural memory embedded within sites of historical significance. Students were encouraged to observe how the physical remains of the house—its walls, rooms, materials, and spatial layout—suggested past modes of living, social hierarchies, and everyday practices. Discussions focused on how such sites preserve certain narratives while simultaneously erasing others, raising questions about whose histories are remembered and whose are rendered invisible over time.

The visit also facilitated an analysis of the intersection of memory, culture, and history within lived spaces. Students reflected on how cultural practices, rituals, and forms of storytelling associated with domestic spaces contribute to both tangible and intangible heritage. Even in its ruined state, the house evoked memories of familial life, community interactions, and cultural routines, demonstrating how memory often survives beyond material collapse.

Another significant focus was on documenting layered histories and palimpsestic traces. The structure revealed signs of multiple periods of occupation, modification, and abandonment, allowing students to identify overlapping historical narratives embedded within the site. These traces prompted discussion on contestation, silence, and loss, and how collective identities are shaped through selective remembrance and forgetting.

Engagement with local perspectives formed an important component of the visit. Students interacted with individuals familiar with the site, gathering oral histories, anecdotes, and everyday recollections that offered alternative narratives absent from official records. These interactions highlighted the role of local communities as custodians of memory and underscored the importance of oral testimony in complementing archival and literary sources.

The visit further encouraged critical reflection on the representation and interpretation of the past. Students evaluated how memory is curated, neglected, or contested in non-institutional sites, and how power relations influence which histories are preserved. This reflective process fostered a deeper understanding of memory as a dynamic and politically inflected process rather than a neutral record of the past.

Overall, the onsite visit functioned as an experiential and interdisciplinary learning exercise, integrating perspectives from literature, history, anthropology, and cultural studies. It heightened students’ awareness of how memory shapes contemporary cultural identities and reinforced the significance of revisiting cultural sites as a means of engaging with questions of identity, displacement, and cultural continuity. The activity successfully bridged theory and practice, enriching students’ academic engagement with memory studies through direct, embodied experience.