Tracingmemory.com is a space dedicated to public discourses about cultural memory. As an academic field, Memory Studies is relatively new, but the area is blossoming. Topics include trauma, repression, history vs. memory, public and private space, victim and victimizer, the archive and the witness. My hope is that this website will help explore the international entanglements of cultural memory.
In particular, I am interested in the ways in which Truth Commissions reveal a dialectical relationship between history and memory, allowing for memory to rectify some of the intentional absences of history. There have been dozens of Truth Commissions implemented around the world as a way to deal with transitional justice. The Canadian Truth And Reconciliation Commission is a contemporary example where discourses of human rights, cultural memory and the project of nation-building are illuminated.
Tracing Memory 
June 7, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Hi Naomi,
Great site – thanks. I’m an ABD at USC Annenberg who’s working closely along the lines of your own project. I’d like to learn more about whether and how you’re dealing with several concepts: public discourse (public sphere, language, sites / forums), museums and collections, media (esp. new media), and memory (specifically, which literatures). I’m revising my introduction outline at present and would be grateful to trade a few ideas.
If you’re looking at history and power, a great book is Trouillot, Michel-Rolph. Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1996) Boston: Beacon Press. I’d be glad to share bibliographies to see what you’ve been reading.
PS, I met a friend of yours (D Dechief) in Montreal last week who suggested I speak w you.
Best,
Patrick
June 8, 2010 at 1:46 am
Hi Patrick,
Nice to hear from you. And yes, it’d be great to trade ideas. I loved Trouillot’s book, which reminds me that I need to revisit it. He is a pleasure to read.
Have you read Marita Sturken’s work? She was at Annenberg and is now at NYU.
I’m going to send you an email so we can discuss further. In case you don’t receive it, you can reach me at naomiangel(at)nyu.edu.
I’m glad to hear you met Diane; she’s lovely.
Best,
Naomi
May 21, 2011 at 7:43 am
Naomi: Would you kindly contact me at the email address given. I’m not sure if you are the correct person, but I have a request to make of you or whomever administers the Writing On The Wall-Portage La Prairie site.
I’d be very grateful to hear from you.
Joe Smuin
February 10, 2012 at 3:41 pm
Hi there Naomi,
I am a MA student in Cultural Heritage Management at the University of York, UK (but originally from BC). I am also researching a similar topic, although I am looking at what effects the treatment of the structures of the IRS (demolishment, adaptive re-use, abandonment) have had on the memories, values, and significance of these sites.
Your site has been very interesting and I would love the chance to trade some ideas with you as well.
February 10, 2012 at 4:46 pm
Hello Anna,
Thanks for your comment. I’d be happy to discuss our related research interests. Feel free to be in touch over email: naomiangel[at]nyu[dot]edu.
All the best,
Naomi
December 13, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Looks like a very interesting site. Best wishes as it goes forward.