UMass Week of Memory and Forgetting Begins Oct. 29

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UMass Week of Memory and Forgetting: Science, Society, and Senescence” brings together science and art to explore and understand memory from a variety of perspectives through a variety of events from Oct. 29-Nov. 2.

A collaboration between the Initiative on Neurosciences, the Fine Arts Center, the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory, and faculty in the department of Spanish and Portuguese studies, it features a reception, a roundtable discussion, a film, two scientific talks, an open house with lab tours and culminates with a play, “The Nature of Forgetting,” hosted by the FAC. 

The Mexican holiday of Day of the Dead is Nov. 1. This is a day of remembrance where people create altars to their dead relatives. Students at UMass will create altars in memory of those who had an influence in a field related to memory. These altars will be at various locations around campus. 

Paul Katz, professor of biology, says, “Memory means many different things to different fields. This is a unique series of events in that it ties together scientific understanding of memory with the arts and humanities to explore different aspects of this very important subject.”The week includes events discussing how our brains remember, the diseases that cause them to forget, and also how memory functions in societies.

Katz says, “We hope to build bridges across the humanities, arts, and science.”