Memory tractates: the roar that lies on the other side of silence

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the interactive quality of memories and how they lived on in the dataset of a two-year study conducted several years ago, in which a group of women engaged in close reading and memoir-writing practices, unpacking their personal memories to gain insight into their lived experiences. In the process of analysing the data from the study, the researcher realised that the data resisted reductive interpretation and categorisation. Despite the differences between the researcher and the participants in relation to socio-cultural backgrounds and life experiences, the data from the seemingly distant worlds, was both ‘alive’ and interacted with her across time. The researcher found that she shared memories with the participants which evoked a strong reaction within her. These shared memories set her on a path of becoming.