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In the Belly of History: Memory, Forgetting, and the Hazards of Reproduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Bilinda Straight
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Abstract

This paper examines the intertwined issues of memory and forgetting, focusing particularly on the question of precisely how, and by what social mechanisms, forgetting is accomplished. I discuss how collective and individual forms of forgetting are central to Bourdieu's notion of the habitus, commenting that the habitus is a living paradox, foreclosing (unimagined perhaps because unimaginable) possibilities and opening others only when moments of improvised reflection intervene. Moreover, the systems of the habitus enact a forgetting of the strange, the marginal, the in-between, and even the singular and the autobiographical. I explore these issues through the juxtaposition of formalized, collective Samburu (Kenyan pastoralists) memory forms and the illicit sexual practices that underworld them.

Résumé

Cet article examine les interdépendances du souvenir et de l'oubli, et particulièrement la question de savoir précisément comment, et par quels mécanismes sociaux, l'oubli s'accomplit. Il traite de la place centrale qu'occupent les formes collectives et individuelles de l'oubli dans le concept d'habitus de Bourdieu, en faisant remarquer que l'habitus est un paradoxe vivant, excluant des possibilités (inimaginées car peut-être inimaginables) et ouvrant d'autres seulement lorsqu'interviennent des moments de réflexion improvisée. De plus, les systèmes de l'habitus exercent un oubli de l'étrange, du marginal, de l'intermédiaire, voire même du singulier et de l'autobiographique. l'article examine ces questions en mettant en juxtaposition des formes de mémoire collective et formalisée samburu (pastoralistes kenyans) et les pratiques sexuelles illicites qui les habitent.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 75 , Issue 1: Collective Memory, Reproduction and Generation in Africa , February 2005 , pp. 83 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2005

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