Database narrative, spatial montage, and the cultural transmission of memory: An anthropological perspective

Aston, Judith

Abstract

This chapter discusses ways in which the database narrative techniques of virtual media can be used to explore the relationship between real-world oral storytelling and embodied performance in the cultural transmission of memory. It is based on an ongoing collaboration between the author and the historical anthropologist, Wendy James, to develop a multilayered associative narrative, which considers relationships between experience, event, and memory among a displaced community. The work is based on a substantial living archive of photographs, audio, cine, and video recordings collected by Wendy James in the Sudan/Ethiopian borderlands from the mid-1960s to the present day. Its critical context relates to the 'sensory turn' in anthropology and to 'beyond text' debates within the arts and humanities regarding ways in which we can capture and represent the sensory experiences of the past. © 2013, IGI Global.

• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2013
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 150-158
• Book Title: Digital Media and Technologies for Virtual Artistic Spaces
• ISBN: 9781466629615
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2961-5.ch011
• Keywords: spatial montage, digital aesthetics, virtual media, associative narrative
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/935776
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-2961-5.ch011