Reinhard Bernbeck, "Lieux de Mémoire and Sites of De-Subjectivation", in: Reinhard Bernbeck, Kerstin P. Hofmann and Ulrike Sommer (Eds.), Between Memory Sites and Memory Networks. New Archaeological and Historical Perspectives, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2017, 253–278

Abstract

This essay consists of four different elements that approach the nexus of memory, place/space and subjectivity in different ways. I start out with a description of the concept of lieux demémoire as formulated by Pierre Nora, its connections to Marc Augé’s “non-places” and acritique of these ideas. I then discuss the postcolonial notion of Third Space as an alternative approach to the nexus of memory and space. Finally, an archaeological example of a megalithic site in Jordan illustrates the advantages and difficulties of mobilizing the idea of Third Spaces in archaeological contexts.

Published In

Reinhard Bernbeck, Kerstin P. Hofmann and Ulrike Sommer (Eds.), Between Memory Sites and Memory Networks. New Archaeological and Historical Perspectives, Berlin: Edition Topoi, 2017