Realms of Memory

Realms of Memory is a podcast that looks at how countries confront their darkest chapters, what they gain by doing so, and what happens when they fail to take up this challenge. We feature the insights of leading experts on a wide range of difficult national memories.

Realms of Memory is a history podcast hosted by Rick Derderian, with 100 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Rick Derderian hosts Realms of Memory, a history show with 100 episodes published.

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  Realms of Memory

  Memory Politics in Peru

  Sep 15, 20261 min

  The civil war in Peru is often lumped together indiscriminately with neighboring conflicts in Latin America. University of Victoria historian Cynthia Milton argues that we need to take into account the very different nature of the violence in Peru as well as the centrality of the military in Peruvian society to fully grasp how the conflict has been remembered. In Conflicted Memory: Military Cultural Interventions and the Human Rights Era in Peru, Milton reveals how the military has successfully deployed the the language of human rights memorialization to reframe their role in the conflict. A conversation with Cynthia Milton about memory politics in Perus on the October 6th episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

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  Realms of Memory

  Unlearning the Holocaust with Juergen Zimmerer

  Aug 18, 20263 min

  How singular was the Holocaust? Historian Juergen Zimmerer sparked a firestorm of controversy in Germany for suggesting continuity between the colonial past and the Holocaust. Any suggestion that the Holocaust needs to be understood within a broader framework that goes beyond antisemitism and the Nazi era strikes at the heart of the German national memory culture. Drawing from his recently published edited volume, Germany’s History Wars: Contesting Memory and Identity Today , I had the chance to talk with Juergen Zimmerer about how the singularity idea has contributed to the unlearning of the lessons of the Holocaust. A conversation with Juergen Zimmerer, renowned scholar of the genocide in German South West Africa, next on the September 1st episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

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  Episode #70

  Jeff Olick on Memory Studies and Confronting the Past

  Aug 4, 20261h 4m

  Jeff Olick has been one of the central figures in the making and shaping of memory studies, a burgeoning, multidisciplinary field of study drawing scholars from around the globe. A professor of sociology and history at the University Virginia, Charlotte, I had the opportunity to engage with Jeff in a wide ranging conversation. We talked about how memory studies and the work of Maurice Halbwachs helped him find a home in sociology for his interest in collective memory. We discussed his work on how Germany’s political elite mastered the Nazi past, albeit with significant caveats. He shared his thoughts on how, despite the recent backlash, American collective memory may finally be turning away from a celebratory approach to the past toward what he has labeled as the politics of regret. A conversation with memory studies expert Jeffrey K. Olick, in this episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

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  Realms of Memory

  Jeff Olick on Memory Studies and Confronting the Past

  Jul 21, 20261 min

  Few scholars have influenced memory studies as much as Jeff Olick. Professor of Sociology and History at the University of Virginia, Charlotte, Jeff was co-founder and past co-president of the Memory Studies Association, the leading association for this burgeoning, interdisciplinary field of studies. His books on Germany offer pathbreaking insights into how the country’s political elites attempted to master the Nazi and Holocaust past. The Politics of Regret , has become a reference point for explaining why countries around the globe take up the challenge of confronting shameful histories. From the The Collective Memory Reader to the six volume, A Cultural History of Memory , Jeff has helped compile a cannon of readings and an expansive history of collective memory. A conversation with Jeff Olick about memory studies, the politics of memory in Germany, and the prospects for the politics of regret in the United States, next on the August 4th episode of the Realms of Memory podcast.

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  Episode #68

  Race and Slavery in U.S. Museums

  Jul 7, 202654 min

  Since the 1990s countries around the world have been building a new type of history museum. Rather than glorifying the nation, these museums are purpose-built to spotlight the darkest and most shameful chapters in national histories. They are inspired by a post-Holocaust, “never again,” human rights memorialization culture anchored in the belief that nations can and should learn from past wrongs. Until recently, the United States lagged behind this trend. Few American museums offered a critical perspective on the nation’s history of racial violence. Sociologist Amy Sodaro, an expert on museums and the politics of past violence, offers her insights on three new U.S. museums that feature the history of slavery and racial violence. This is the subject of her recent book, Lifting the Shadow: Reshaping Memory, Race and Slavery in U.S. Museums .

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