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What is the Centre for Popular Memory?

By Jon Conolly Posted on 3 m read

The Centre for Popular Memory (CPM) is an oral history based, research, advocacy and archival centre located at the University of Cape Town. We record and disseminate peoples’ stories to expand the democratizing possibilities of public history. The CPM trains students and organizations in oral/ visual history research, theory and forms of public representation; and runs a publicly accessible multi-lingual archive that contains over 3000 hours of audio and video.

The CPM believes that people’s stories have the power to contribute to social and developmental change. As we hear, see, imagine and empathize with others, we can contribute to altering attitudes, perceptions and policy. Given that memories are particularly shaped and conserved by relationships, we focus on facilitating dialogues across generations and through sites of memory.

Our research prioritizes multi-lingual and multi-disciplinary approaches to memory, narrative, gender, identity formation, and the impact of violence and traumatic legacies in Africa. We specialize in dissemination of these narratives through books, radio, exhibitions, film and web. Future plans include the development of content into more portable media platforms.

The international pioneer of oral history research and memory studies, Professor Alessandro Portelli, has been a Mellon Visiting Fellow in the Centre for Popular Memory at UCT. Over the last three weeks he has given lectures to under-graduate classes, Honours seminars and led a colloquium for MA/Phd students. The CPM also co-hosted a public seminar with the District Six Museum, where he responded to the question, “Has oral history lost its radical edge?” The finale to Professor Portelli’s visit was his input at the CPM’s 10th birthday party and launch of our audio archival catalogue on 22 May 2012. At this event he spoke to the title: “Sound and Meaning in and beyond Oral History.”

For marginalized individuals and groups who have experienced the trauma or pain of the past, the need to be heard, seen and remembered in the present is acutely felt. While the CPM is intellectually open to exploring any form of memory, we privilege ‘popular memory’ as the social articulation of oppositional, dissident or subaltern forms of memory such as community, political, cultural, family and gendered memories.

But the desire to understand ‘popular memory’ includes the need to interrogate its relation to ‘unpopular memory’ and to challenge other binaries within the discourse. With this in mind, the CPM remains committed to anti-essentialist approaches to constructions of memory.

The CPM prioritises the significant sites of knowledge, which exist outside of official institutions such ‘the academy’ and ‘the archives’. We aim to critique the often antagonistic relationships between academic history and popular memory. This also involves a political commitment to furthering the human rights of marginalised groups by creating spaces for storytelling through various media. These activities potentially strengthen the public voices of people who are usually excluded or under-represented in different forums.

The CPM then, records and archives traces of popular memory, and disseminates these to diverse audiences to support the democratising possibilities of public history. These aims are encapsulated in our mission statement:

‘People in South Africa have a dynamic, but largely unrecorded heritage.

The Centre creates spaces for these stories to be heard, seen and remembered.’


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CPM Research

By Jon Conolly Posted on 2 m read

Our research is primarily conducted in the Western Cape, but our work extends to other parts of southern and central Africa.

Interviews are recorded in a variety of languages, with a focus across the following research topics:

  • Forced removals under apartheid
  • Trauma, narrative and memory
  • Social impact of HIV/AIDS pandemic
  • Popular culture, music, oral performance
  • South African life stories
  • Refugee and migrant life stories
  • Sites of memory and heritage practices
  • Cape Town Street Stories

Major research projects during 2001 to 2010 included:

  • Forced removals to Atlantis and Mamre (80 interviews, English/Afrikaans transcribed and translated)
  • Langa heritage (56 interviews, English/Xhosa transcribed and translated)
  • Popular culture in Cape Town (60 interviews, English, Xhosa transcribed and translated)
  • Congolese and Nigerian Migration (110 interviews, English, French, Lingala transcribed and translated)
  • Trauma and Memory in Guguletu (32 interviews, Xhosa transcribed and translated)
  • Mediation of trauma in different communities (46 interviews English transcribed)
  • Forced removals from Ndabeni and Blouvlei (60 interviews English, Xhosa transcribed and translated)
  • Street Stories (400 interviews  English, Afrikaans, Xhosa)
  • Performing Stories (90 interviews Xhosa,Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, English)

During this period, CPM staff published 29 articles, delivered 30 conference papers and produced the following 5 collections:

  • S. Field (ed.) 2001. Lost Communities, Living Memories: Remembering Forced Removals in Cape Town. David Philip: Cape Town.
  • V. Bickford-Smith, S. Field and C. Glaser (eds.) 2001. ‘Special Edition: Oral History in the Western Cape’. African Studies vol.60 no.1.
  • S. Field, R. Meyer and F. Swanson (eds.) 2007. Imagining the City: Memories and Cultures in Cape Town. HSRC Press: Cape Town.
  • Special Edition: Approaching oral history. South African Oral Hisotry Journal, Vol60, No2.
  • R, Meyer, 2009. Streetstories from Klipfontein, Lansdowne and Main Road, CPM: Cape Town

The CPM presents various oral history and memory courses for on and off campus students.

Training modules include:

  • A 1st semester post-graduate course: ‘Oral History: Method and Practice and Theory’ (HST4034Z) which provides skills training in oral history interviewing and interpretation.
  • An under-graduate course ‘Memory, Identity and History’ (HST3037S) explores trauma and memory across case studies of the Holocaust, Apartheid and Rwanda, and the representation of trauma through oral history, films, photographs, cartoons and performances.
  • Short oral history courses for off-campus audiences such as archives, museums, NGOs and schools.

The CPM runs a seminar series called “Representations and politics of Memory.” In the last two years this programme has attracted speakers such as Italian oral historian Prof. Alessandro Portelli; Curator of the National Museum of American History, Pete Daniel, Argentinian historian Florentia Levin and SA photographer Paul Weinberg.

The CPM internship has been running for 6 years, and more than 20 students have been mentored through the annual program that involves intensive training of oral history methodology, interviewing skills and transcription. We also encourage and offer thesis/dissertation supervision to students across disciplines.


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Exccesive Internet use and it’s effect on your Memory

By Jon Conolly Posted on 3 m read

Think about how kids used to play outside all day, things have changed drastically in some parts of the world. Kids are now planted in front of computer screens, on social media and playing games. Where do you as a parent draw the line? It has been clinically proven that unsupervised and excessive use of the internet is not only addictive, but can also result in short term memory loss.

short-term-memory

There is a difference between normal and compulsive usage, you just need to be on the lookout for the signs. Over the course of a year internet usage can be more and then less, but should overall include other activities. Things like exercise, visiting with friends, any interests that promote healthy kids. There might be an increase in internet use when there is a school project to finish, but these activities are generally short term. Liberty Home is one of several rehab Cape Town that treats a variety of manifestations of internet addiction, including online gaming and online gambling.

The problem becomes serious when a child sits behind a computer screen day in and day out, avoiding everything and everyone else. Not finishing homework, not participating in any sports and focused on their internet world.

To help kids avoid this situation parents should take control, regulate the time spent on the computer or any device on any given day. Ensure that your kids participate in other necessary activities to build strong and healthy bodies. If not regulated, some negative consequences can occur. The child may develop problems such as:

  • Obesity: sitting in front of the computer does not help with improving your physical body. The case may be that eating correctly is also a problem making it more likely to develop health issues.
  • Insomnia: some people just can’t switch off when they go to bed, being in front of a computer screen makes it even more difficult. This is especially true if online late at night.
  • Depression and anxiety: lack of exercise and a neglected social life can lead to depression and anxiety.

So what can parents do to help?

Time management

Managing the amount of time a child spends on the computer is important. Considering older kids, maybe allow only about 2 hours of internet time. The time spent on the internet should only be allowed after they have finished homework and done chores.

Location

Move the computer out of the bedroom to remove any further temptation. If internet is an issue try to give access to only one computer that is located in a central area. This way you can keep an eye on them at all times. The child can’t be tempted to use the computer for excessive periods of time. In the event that a loved one is admitted into a rehab for treatment, it is recommended that they spend an adjustment period staying in a home for sober living Cape Town, where they can find their feet.

Applications

Think about getting an app. that regulates age appropriate content. There are also parental control software options for the computer, where certain unsavoury sites can be blocked. You can also get software which will lock down all devices and that you can set automatically. This can help in cases where they don’t want to follow the rules and try to sneak in some internet time.

Learn all about the internet

Parents can also educate themselves; make sure they know what can be found online. Know what your child is searching for. Make sure you know how to do things like, go into the search history.

Internet addiction can be a sign of other issues in a child’s life. Internet addiction is just another method used, to escape reality. The internet offers a chance to be somewhere else or someone else in your head. It offers a way to deal with any negative emotions and difficult situations that are happening in the real world.

A parent finding out that internet addiction is a problem for their child, should try to talk to them. Get them to tell you what is bothering them and if the problem is a bit bigger than you can handle, it might be a good idea to seek professional help.


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