Reminiscence

Today's session was about Reminiscence theatre. This is something I have never really touched on before therefore it was interesting to learn about the positive and negative aspects of it.

'At the end if the 20th century history is not what it was' (Kershaw: 1999:160)

We looked at this quote and tried to deconstruct it's meaning, what came about was a debate as to what history is now and what history was. I think the quote means that today, we have different perceptions of past events, we view it differently. Now that we have gained more perspectives we are able to challange what was previously believed and accepted. We also talked about viewing history in a modernist and post-moderist ways. We now view history as a fragmented thing, non-linear and challange weather past events such as the holocaust actually happened where as a modernist view would say that the face is solid, you cannot deny a fact. This then brought us on to discussing memory.

Memory: Something from your personal history, first person, fragmented and compartmentalized images. Association, memories from smell, images and objects

Reminiscence: Something you do with someone else. Idealised and wishful, happy times. The Choice about the stories we tell.

Nostalgia: Looking back on things with rose tinted glasses, something that generates emotions, negative in the sense that only the 'good' things are remembered.

Heritage: Your background. Something that is well established and has a value, Part of who you are for example you sur-name.

I shall carry on a bit later!