Genres of Memory and the Memory of Genres: “Forgetting” Lament in Bangladesh

Abstract

This article seeks to place lament in the context of Asian modernities, theorize memory in relation to genres of performance, and introduce the notion of social technologies of forgetting. Evidence suggests that Bangladeshi culture is changing in ways congruent with some models of globalizing modernity. Indeed, my data indicate that displacing certain performance genres may be key to modernist transformation. Yet, several persons I describe here endured hardship over several years to continue performing genres their neighbors deemed dated or sacrilegious. This problematizes teleological visions of the progress of a monolithic modernity stamping out older expressive forms.If the construction of memory is a core theoretical issue in history, understanding how memories give way to forgetfulness also requires attention. This paper is about technologies of commemoration-amongst which we must count lament-and of forgetting. It must therefore concern metadiscoursestalk about forms of talk (forms, here, that serve or efface memory). Lamenttuneful, texted weeping-is a technique for keeping memories alive and transforming them. I will examine how Islamization or Christianization can serve as technologies of forgetting. Cultural and individual agency are at work in active forgetting; forgetting is not simply a matter of "false consciousness." Memory is never about the past alone and, at least in its guise as commemoration, never private (Casey 1987). It is a tenuous achievement, partly because commemorations may be contested. The contestations and commemorations I describe are about the present as well as about the past, since commemoration tends to make past and present consubstantial (Casey 1985:254). The "present" at stake 159 0010-4175/02/159-185 $9.50

The Harmonic Minor Scale Provides an Optimum Way of Reducing Average Melodic Interval Size, Consistent with Sad Affect Cues

“…Apart from historical sources, there also exist both ethnographic and empirical descriptions of grief-or sadness-related musical experiences in many cultures. Laments, sorrow songs, dirges, elegies, and mourning-song traditions are evident around the world, especially in eastern Europe (e.g., Mazo, 1994;Seremetakis, 1991;Wilce, 2009), Africa (e.g., Anyumba, 1964Nketia, 1975), the Middle East and Asia (e.g., Naroditskaya, 2000;Racy, 1986;Wilce, 2002), and Oceania and Australia (e.g., Feld, 1982/1990Magowan, 2007;Moyle, 1987).…”

“…Apart from historical sources, there also exist both ethnographic and empirical descriptions of grief-or sadness-related musical experiences in many cultures. Laments, sorrow songs, dirges, elegies, and mourning-song traditions are evident around the world, especially in eastern Europe (e.g., Mazo, 1994;Seremetakis, 1991;Wilce, 2009), Africa (e.g., Anyumba, 1964Nketia, 1975), the Middle East and Asia (e.g., Naroditskaya, 2000;Racy, 1986;Wilce, 2002), and Oceania and Australia (e.g., Feld, 1982/1990Magowan, 2007;Moyle, 1987).Sadness has been one of the most commonly studied affects in research on music and emotion. At least in the case of Western-enculturated listeners, both adults and children readily identify particular melodies or passages as sounding "sad" (e.g., Dolgin & Adelson, 1990;Terwogt & Grinsven, 1991).…”

Introduction: Maya Archaeology and Social Memory

“…While these are too many to list here, a few bear mentioning in this context. First, there has been a clear shift towards understanding collective memory as a result of the actions and practices of individuals (e.g., Wilce 2002). As mentioned before, these studies draw on the theory and scholarship of Pierre Bourdieu and the role of practices—culturally contextualized activities—in the construction and maintenance of Halbwachs' “frameworks” of social collective memory.…”