Indigenous Memory and Stonehenge - workshop and public lecture

Location
A01 Highfield House
Date(s)
Wednesday 22nd February 2017 (14:00-19:00)
Contact
For further information please contact Allison Pearson.
Register for the workshop: https://lynnekellyworkshop.eventbrite.co.uk
Register for the public lecture: https://kellylecture.eventbrite.co.uk
Description
DrLynneKelly-16x9-SCREEN

Visiting this month: Dr Lynne Kelly, science writer and Honorary Research Associate at Latrobe University, Australia.

Dr Kelly will join us for two fascinating events:

Workshop: Participants will learn memory methods drawn from indigenous cultures and applicable in today’s learning. Known from ancient Greek times, the ‘method of loci’ is considered the most effective memory method ever devised. Dr Kelly’s research shows that indigenous cultures use a complex form of this method along with a vast array of memory devices. We will use large physical spaces along with portable mnemonic objects and encode them with practical contemporary information. These methods can be adapted to any field of study. Audience: PG students and supervisors primarily in Arts, Social Sciences and Psychology.

Public Lecture: Without writing, indigenous elders memorised a vast amount of factual information on which survival depended both physically and culturally: knowledge of thousands of animals and plants, astronomical charts, vast navigation networks, genealogies, geography and geology … the list goes on and on. How did they remember so much? And why does this explain the purpose of ancient monuments including Stonehenge, Easter Island and the Nasca Lines? Can we use these memory methods in contemporary life?
This lecture will focus on the transmission of scientific and practical knowledge among small-scale oral cultures across the world, drawing on Australian Aboriginal, Native American, African and Pacific cultures. Dr Kelly will explain the exact mechanisms used and why this explains the purpose of many enigmatic monuments around the world. We have a great deal to learn from the extraordinary mnemonic skills of indigenous cultures. Audience: all welcome.

Dr Lynne Kelly is a science writer and Honorary Research Associate at Latrobe University, Australia. Her most recent books are Knowledge and Power in Prehistoric Societies: orality, memory and the transmission of culture (Cambridge University Press) and The Memory Code (Atlantic Books).

Centre for Advanced Studies

Highfield House
University Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD

email: CAS-enquiries@nottingham.ac.uk