Episode 89: Are you suffering from historical amnesia?
People masking up during the flu pandemic of 1918-1919 in Australia. Image courtesy of the City of Sydney Archives
Have you noticed how hard it is to remember the past 18 months? You might be dealing with historical amnesia, the process by which we collectively forget traumatic events in the past. In this episode, we talk about how storytelling is a major driver of historical amnesia -- in science fiction, and in political rhetoric. We also also talk to ASU professor Ayanna Thompson, author of a new book called Blackface, about how people have forgotten the history of minstrelsy in the US -- and why that's a problem.
Notes, Citations, & etc.!
Blackface, by Ayanna Thompson
America’s Forgotten Pandemic, by Alfred Crosby
Nancy Bristow’s lecture on historical amnesia
American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, by Nancy Bristow
Michael Rogin’s ideas about “motivated forgetting” are in this article here, but also in his book, Ronald Reagan: The Movie and Other Episodes of Political Demonology
Jonathan Rinzler’s Star Wars books
How Star Wars Conquered the Universe, by Chris Taylor
Jaymee Goh talks about steampunk and appropriation in her dissertation, and on our podcast.
Everfair, by Nisi Shawl
Ay-leen the Peacemaker’s essay on steampunk
Balogun Ojetade’s interview with Maurice Broaddus
Pimp my Airship, by Maurice Broaddus
Ken Liu’s essay about Silkpunk
Lovecraft Country, created by Misha Green
White Chicks, dir. Keenen Ivory Wayans
Marvin McCallister, Whiting Up
How to be an Anti-Racist, by Ibram X. Kendi