The Memory Studies Portal (MSP) is a bibliography and virtual repository for the growing community of memory scholars. It is a collaborative project of the Memory in the Disciplines initiative at Stony Brook University and the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University.
The MSP responds to two trends:
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The ongoing consolidation of a field of memory studies. Most notably, the recent formation of the Memory Studies Association. This is further evidenced by the existence of centers and specialized journals dedicated to the study of memory (see links), as well as the recent publication of a number of edited collections and special journal issues heralding the establishment of a field. This field is variously identified as social, cultural, and collective memory studies (these terms are sometimes used interchangeably and sometimes indicate conceptual distinctions). Its participants include scholars from a variety disciplines, especially in the social sciences and humanities.
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The ongoing debate as to whether memory studies is or should be "interdisciplinary" (involving contributions from scholars from various disciplines within a shared framework), "transdisciplinary" (involving a generative synthesis of disciplinary approaches), or merely "multidisciplinary" (characterized by several parallel, largely independent specialized conversations). This debate provides the opportunity to investigate the relations between disciplines.
The MSP bridges disciplinary divides between (and among) the social sciences and the humanities Accordingly, our initiative will allow scholars from disciplines as diverse as sociology, literature, history, psychology, philosophy, political sciences, performance studies and art history to engage in a sustained conversation - and, ideally, to enrich one anothers' understanding of memory.
Since the MSP is a work in progress its growth also partly depends on your input. We thus encourage scholars/users of the MSP to alert us to bibliographic entries or any other suggestion as to how we can improve and expand the MSP. Please send an email with your thoughts, concerns, etc.
