Collective Memory-Work for Unforgetting Histories and Imagining Futures: A Feminist, Collective Approach to Inquiry

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

In this symposium, we, a group of multi-racial/multi-ethnic women educators, consider the possibilities of the feminist methodology of collective memory-work (CMW) (Haug, et. al., 1987) to help us “unforget” important histories and imagine futures where we work against the problematic dominant historical and contemporary narratives that limit our collective imaginations and reproduce harmful practices. This study, a critical collaborative inquiry, examines experiences working with the feminist methodology of CMW across various identities and contexts in education. “To work as a feminist means trying to transform the organisations that employ us” (Ahmed, 2016). We suggest the significance of collective inquiry for locating ourselves in our shared (often erased) histories and collectively imagining emancipatory futures.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Narrative Research

Chair

• Colleen Clements, University of Minnesota

Papers

• “You won’t colonize my values”: Collective memory-work as communal healing praxis - Bisola A. Wald, University of Minnesota; Keitha-Gail Martin-Kerr, University of Minnesota; Colleen Clements, University of Minnesota

• “She didn’t feel bad at all”: Rewriting in Collective Memory-Work as a Site of Rupture - Peng Nelson, University of Minnesota; Yilin Wei, University of Minnesota; Kelly O'Brien, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office

• Being and Doing Collective Memory-Work Together as an Embodied Praxis - Angela Coffee, Century College; Colleen Clements, University of Minnesota; Erin Beeman Stutelberg, Salisbury University

• “And now what?”: Agitating Collectivity in Collective Memory-Work - Anna Schick, University of Wisconsin - River Falls; Emina Buzinkic, Institute for Development and International Relations

Session Organizer

• Colleen Clements, University of Minnesota

Discussant

• Erin Beeman Stutelberg, Salisbury University