Week 1 - Aleida Assmann – Memory, Collective and Individual
Memory research investigates how we live by our memories, how we are haunted by them, how we
use and abuse them
Motivations for a new interest in memory and the past are:
The breakdown of the so-called ‘grand-narratives’ at the end of the Cold War that had provided
frameworks for the interpretation of the past and future orientation
o The resurgence (heropleving) of frozen memories that had been contained by the larger
ideological formations
o The access was finally possible to the sealed archives of the former Communist countries
provided a new basis for history and memory.
The postcolonial situation in which humans that have been deprived of their indigenous history and
culture are trying to recover their own narratives and memories.
The post-traumatic situation after the Holocaust and the 1 st and 2nd World War is only surfacing
gradually after a period of psychic paralysis and silence
The decline of a generation of witnesses to these traumas whose experimental memory is now being
replaced by translating it in externalized and mediated forms
The new digital revolution in communication technology that changes the status of information by
creating more efficient ways of storing and circulating information
Four memory formats
Individual and collective these 2 categories do not suffice to describe the complex network of memories in
which humans participate
1. Individual memory = design for accurate representations of past experiences but is distorting
(vervormd) and unreliable
- Our memories are indispensable (onmisbaar) because they are the stuff out of which individual
experiences, interpersonal relations, the sense of responsibility, and the image of our own identity are
made.
- As humans we have to rely on our memories, because they are what makes human beings human
Involuntary memories: a large part of our memories sleeps within our bodies until it’s awakened or
triggered by some haphazard (lukraak) external stimulus
Inaccessible memories: repressed memories, that are locked up and guarded by taboos or trauma,
too painful or shameful
Procedural memory: stores body skills and movement that have become habitual
Semantic memory: stores the fund of knowledge that is acquired mentally through conscious
learning
Episodic memory: processes autobiographical experiences. The following four general traits
characterize episodic memories:
o Perspectival: limited to one perspective
o Idiosyncratic: individual
o Fragmentary: cut-out bits and pieces
o Connected to a wider network of other memories and are continuously socially readapted –
acquire coherence and consistency and create social bonds
o Transient, changing and volatile – limited in time, some recede into the background,
narratives that are often rehearsed are best preserved
2. Social memory
- Memories are built up, developed and sustained in interaction social exchange with others
Episodic memories can transcend the individual’s lifespan, they exist in a community of shared
experience, stories and memories
Generational memory: generations tend to see themselves different from other generations, through
shared experiences intergenerational and embodied
3. Political memory
, - Political and cultural memory are transgenerational
- Fuzzy (wazig) bottum-up memory is transformed into an explicit, homogenous and institutionalized top-
down memory.
- Institutions and groups do not possess a memory like individuals
institutions, nations, states, the church or a firm do not ‘have’ a memory: they ‘make’ one for
themselves with the aid of memorial signs such as symbols, texts, images, rites, ceremonies, places
this is how they ‘construct’ an identity
- Next to political memory, a mediated memory is necessary this resides in media, symbols and
practices that have to be engrafted (incorporated) into the hearts and minds of individuals
- Political memory is stronger in ethnically homogenous groups and nations
- It is however limited: what doesn’t fit into a heroic pattern was passed over and forgotten victories
are easier to remember than defeats
- Collective national memory is receptive to historical moments of triumph and defeat, provided they can
be integrated into the semantics of a heroic or martyrological narrative.
4. Cultural memory = has a triadic structure: remembering, forgetting and the combination of these
- This combination of remembering and forgetting refers to the cultural function of storing extensive
information in libraries, museums and archives which far exceeds the capacities of human memories
neither actively remembered, nor totally forgotten
- This intermediary existence between remembering and forgetting can be referred to as a ‘status of
latency’ arises from the material storage and accessibility of forgotten, unused and irrelevant
information
Week 2 - The Zheng He Voyages: A Reassessment - Geoff Wade
Wade challenges the traditional portrayal of Zheng He as a peaceful ambassador of friendship. Instead, he
argues that the voyages were part of a broader imperial strategy by the Ming dynasty to assert military,
political and economic dominance across Southeast-Asia and the Indian Ocean. He frames these
expeditions as maritime proto-colonialism (a precursor to European maritime empires).
Eunuch = man die gecastreerd is om politieke redenen.
Zheng He’s voyages were one of three prongs of southern expansion:
Land based colonization of Yunnan
Invasion and occupation of Daí Viêt (Vietnam)
Maritime expeditions to Southeast Asia and beyond
Zheng He’s background:
Born in Yunnan, captured and castrated during Ming conquest
Became a trusted eunuch of Zhu Di (Yongle Emperor)
Led 7 major voyages between 1405 and 1433
Nature of the Voyages:
Contrary to popular belief, the voyages were military in nature, involving:
o Large fleets (up to 250 ships)
o Tens of thousands of troops
o Advanced weaponry including firearms and cannons
Missions aimed to:
o Enforce Ming suzerainty
o Collect tribute and treasures
o Control maritime trade routes and port cities
Evidence of coercion and violence:
Sumatra 1407: attack on Old Port; 5000 killed
Java 1407: 170 Chinese troops killed; Ming demanded gold compensation
Sri Lanka 1411: King captured and taken to China
, Samudera 1415: Local leader captured
Zhu Yuan-Zhang founded the Ming dynasty in 1368. The Ming dynasty expanded and absorbed Yun-nan and
Japan were the first colonies into Ming. The reign Yong-le emperor (1402-25) was to see a major
development in the Ming colonization of Yun-nan. Had already invaded a Vietnamese polity in 1406. Yun-nan
= Thai areas
Zheng-He most widely known maritime ‘voyager’/envoys. Many legends centered around him. Many of
the eunuch commanders were Muslim, the navigators were often non-Chinese, and it is possible there were
descendants of Fu-Jian Arabs in the crew as well. The maritime missions were intended to create legitimacy
for the uprising emperor, display the might of the Ming. Zheng-He first departed 1405 and returned in 1407.
Overall assessment of the eunuch-led missions
The maritime forces sent abroad in the first third of the fifteenth century were indented to achieve the
recognition of Ming dominance of all the polities of the known maritime world. To achieve this, they used
force, or the treat thereof. The number of Southeast Asian rulers travelling to China with the Zheng-He
missions suggest that coercion must have been an important element of the voyages. These missions were
also intended, through this coercion, to obtain control of ports and shipping lanes. It was not control of
territory which was sought – this came later with colonialism. Rather, it was political and economic control
across space – control of economic lifelines, nodal points, and networks. By controlling ports and trade
routes, one controlled trade, an essential element for the missions treasure-collecting tasks.
- The Ming were through maritime missions engaged in maritime proto-colonialism by which a dominant
maritime power took control of the main port-polities along the major East-West maritime trade
network, as well as the seas between, gaining economic and political benefits.
- The ending of the Ming voyages was one of the reasons why China’s maritime proto-colonialism never
developed into the more formal colonialism pursued by the Europeans numerous factors contributed
to the ending of the voyages.
Colonialism and the Ming Colonialism is foreign rule imposed on people. The eunuch-led voyages at the
beginning of the fifteenth century constituted only a maritime proto-colonialism as there was no real rule over
a people or territory. There was rule over nodes and networks.
The Ming invasion of Daí Viêt is perhaps the most obvious example of a colonial adventure. There was
invasion, occupation, the imposition of a military and civil administration, economic exploitation, and
domination by a court in the capital of the dominating power. The obvious decolonization which occurred the
following the failure of this enterprise underline its colonial nature. The Ming invasion and occupation of the
Yun-nan Tai polities during the fifteenth century was the most successful of the colonial ventures examined,
as many of the areas colonized during the Ming still form a part of the People’s Republic of China today.
Week 3 Civilizations in Embrace – Amitav Acharya, 2012
Acharya challenges the dominant narrative of civilizational encounters as inherently conflictual by examining
the peaceful and transformative diffusion of Indian ideas into Southeast Asia. He argues that this process
was marked by local initiative, adaptation, and convergence, rather than conquest or colonization.
Key arguments
1. Challenging the clash of civilizations
Civilizations don’t necessarily clash: they can interact, blend, and adapt peacefully. Acharya critiques
Huntington’s thesis that civilizational encounters inherently lead to conflict, arguing that the spread of
Indian ideas to Southeast Asia demonstrates a peaceful model of cultural diffusion.
2. Civilizations in embrace
Proposes a model of peaceful, reciprocal cultural encounters.
Emphasizes dialogue, adaptation, and mutual respect
Memory research investigates how we live by our memories, how we are haunted by them, how we
use and abuse them
Motivations for a new interest in memory and the past are:
The breakdown of the so-called ‘grand-narratives’ at the end of the Cold War that had provided
frameworks for the interpretation of the past and future orientation
o The resurgence (heropleving) of frozen memories that had been contained by the larger
ideological formations
o The access was finally possible to the sealed archives of the former Communist countries
provided a new basis for history and memory.
The postcolonial situation in which humans that have been deprived of their indigenous history and
culture are trying to recover their own narratives and memories.
The post-traumatic situation after the Holocaust and the 1 st and 2nd World War is only surfacing
gradually after a period of psychic paralysis and silence
The decline of a generation of witnesses to these traumas whose experimental memory is now being
replaced by translating it in externalized and mediated forms
The new digital revolution in communication technology that changes the status of information by
creating more efficient ways of storing and circulating information
Four memory formats
Individual and collective these 2 categories do not suffice to describe the complex network of memories in
which humans participate
1. Individual memory = design for accurate representations of past experiences but is distorting
(vervormd) and unreliable
- Our memories are indispensable (onmisbaar) because they are the stuff out of which individual
experiences, interpersonal relations, the sense of responsibility, and the image of our own identity are
made.
- As humans we have to rely on our memories, because they are what makes human beings human
Involuntary memories: a large part of our memories sleeps within our bodies until it’s awakened or
triggered by some haphazard (lukraak) external stimulus
Inaccessible memories: repressed memories, that are locked up and guarded by taboos or trauma,
too painful or shameful
Procedural memory: stores body skills and movement that have become habitual
Semantic memory: stores the fund of knowledge that is acquired mentally through conscious
learning
Episodic memory: processes autobiographical experiences. The following four general traits
characterize episodic memories:
o Perspectival: limited to one perspective
o Idiosyncratic: individual
o Fragmentary: cut-out bits and pieces
o Connected to a wider network of other memories and are continuously socially readapted –
acquire coherence and consistency and create social bonds
o Transient, changing and volatile – limited in time, some recede into the background,
narratives that are often rehearsed are best preserved
2. Social memory
- Memories are built up, developed and sustained in interaction social exchange with others
Episodic memories can transcend the individual’s lifespan, they exist in a community of shared
experience, stories and memories
Generational memory: generations tend to see themselves different from other generations, through
shared experiences intergenerational and embodied
3. Political memory
, - Political and cultural memory are transgenerational
- Fuzzy (wazig) bottum-up memory is transformed into an explicit, homogenous and institutionalized top-
down memory.
- Institutions and groups do not possess a memory like individuals
institutions, nations, states, the church or a firm do not ‘have’ a memory: they ‘make’ one for
themselves with the aid of memorial signs such as symbols, texts, images, rites, ceremonies, places
this is how they ‘construct’ an identity
- Next to political memory, a mediated memory is necessary this resides in media, symbols and
practices that have to be engrafted (incorporated) into the hearts and minds of individuals
- Political memory is stronger in ethnically homogenous groups and nations
- It is however limited: what doesn’t fit into a heroic pattern was passed over and forgotten victories
are easier to remember than defeats
- Collective national memory is receptive to historical moments of triumph and defeat, provided they can
be integrated into the semantics of a heroic or martyrological narrative.
4. Cultural memory = has a triadic structure: remembering, forgetting and the combination of these
- This combination of remembering and forgetting refers to the cultural function of storing extensive
information in libraries, museums and archives which far exceeds the capacities of human memories
neither actively remembered, nor totally forgotten
- This intermediary existence between remembering and forgetting can be referred to as a ‘status of
latency’ arises from the material storage and accessibility of forgotten, unused and irrelevant
information
Week 2 - The Zheng He Voyages: A Reassessment - Geoff Wade
Wade challenges the traditional portrayal of Zheng He as a peaceful ambassador of friendship. Instead, he
argues that the voyages were part of a broader imperial strategy by the Ming dynasty to assert military,
political and economic dominance across Southeast-Asia and the Indian Ocean. He frames these
expeditions as maritime proto-colonialism (a precursor to European maritime empires).
Eunuch = man die gecastreerd is om politieke redenen.
Zheng He’s voyages were one of three prongs of southern expansion:
Land based colonization of Yunnan
Invasion and occupation of Daí Viêt (Vietnam)
Maritime expeditions to Southeast Asia and beyond
Zheng He’s background:
Born in Yunnan, captured and castrated during Ming conquest
Became a trusted eunuch of Zhu Di (Yongle Emperor)
Led 7 major voyages between 1405 and 1433
Nature of the Voyages:
Contrary to popular belief, the voyages were military in nature, involving:
o Large fleets (up to 250 ships)
o Tens of thousands of troops
o Advanced weaponry including firearms and cannons
Missions aimed to:
o Enforce Ming suzerainty
o Collect tribute and treasures
o Control maritime trade routes and port cities
Evidence of coercion and violence:
Sumatra 1407: attack on Old Port; 5000 killed
Java 1407: 170 Chinese troops killed; Ming demanded gold compensation
Sri Lanka 1411: King captured and taken to China
, Samudera 1415: Local leader captured
Zhu Yuan-Zhang founded the Ming dynasty in 1368. The Ming dynasty expanded and absorbed Yun-nan and
Japan were the first colonies into Ming. The reign Yong-le emperor (1402-25) was to see a major
development in the Ming colonization of Yun-nan. Had already invaded a Vietnamese polity in 1406. Yun-nan
= Thai areas
Zheng-He most widely known maritime ‘voyager’/envoys. Many legends centered around him. Many of
the eunuch commanders were Muslim, the navigators were often non-Chinese, and it is possible there were
descendants of Fu-Jian Arabs in the crew as well. The maritime missions were intended to create legitimacy
for the uprising emperor, display the might of the Ming. Zheng-He first departed 1405 and returned in 1407.
Overall assessment of the eunuch-led missions
The maritime forces sent abroad in the first third of the fifteenth century were indented to achieve the
recognition of Ming dominance of all the polities of the known maritime world. To achieve this, they used
force, or the treat thereof. The number of Southeast Asian rulers travelling to China with the Zheng-He
missions suggest that coercion must have been an important element of the voyages. These missions were
also intended, through this coercion, to obtain control of ports and shipping lanes. It was not control of
territory which was sought – this came later with colonialism. Rather, it was political and economic control
across space – control of economic lifelines, nodal points, and networks. By controlling ports and trade
routes, one controlled trade, an essential element for the missions treasure-collecting tasks.
- The Ming were through maritime missions engaged in maritime proto-colonialism by which a dominant
maritime power took control of the main port-polities along the major East-West maritime trade
network, as well as the seas between, gaining economic and political benefits.
- The ending of the Ming voyages was one of the reasons why China’s maritime proto-colonialism never
developed into the more formal colonialism pursued by the Europeans numerous factors contributed
to the ending of the voyages.
Colonialism and the Ming Colonialism is foreign rule imposed on people. The eunuch-led voyages at the
beginning of the fifteenth century constituted only a maritime proto-colonialism as there was no real rule over
a people or territory. There was rule over nodes and networks.
The Ming invasion of Daí Viêt is perhaps the most obvious example of a colonial adventure. There was
invasion, occupation, the imposition of a military and civil administration, economic exploitation, and
domination by a court in the capital of the dominating power. The obvious decolonization which occurred the
following the failure of this enterprise underline its colonial nature. The Ming invasion and occupation of the
Yun-nan Tai polities during the fifteenth century was the most successful of the colonial ventures examined,
as many of the areas colonized during the Ming still form a part of the People’s Republic of China today.
Week 3 Civilizations in Embrace – Amitav Acharya, 2012
Acharya challenges the dominant narrative of civilizational encounters as inherently conflictual by examining
the peaceful and transformative diffusion of Indian ideas into Southeast Asia. He argues that this process
was marked by local initiative, adaptation, and convergence, rather than conquest or colonization.
Key arguments
1. Challenging the clash of civilizations
Civilizations don’t necessarily clash: they can interact, blend, and adapt peacefully. Acharya critiques
Huntington’s thesis that civilizational encounters inherently lead to conflict, arguing that the spread of
Indian ideas to Southeast Asia demonstrates a peaceful model of cultural diffusion.
2. Civilizations in embrace
Proposes a model of peaceful, reciprocal cultural encounters.
Emphasizes dialogue, adaptation, and mutual respect
