Memory, Movement, Mobility: Affect-full Encounters with Memory in Singapore

Overview & Synopsis

Memory, movement and mobility characterise our everyday being. Our bodies are in constant processes of motion: our body remembers movement. Memory of movement, of and in the body, is key to our capacity to move, even if we are not aware that we are remembering movement. Mobility with, from, and in the body is (re)produced and performed by a repertoire of movements, orchestrated (for the most part) synchronously. While studies of mobility have received much recent scholarly attention, the interlinkages between memory, movement and mobility have received far less attention (see Anderson, 2004 and Casey, 2000 for notable exceptions). In redressing this omission, this paper delves into the relationship between memory, movement and mobility by directing its lens on two themes: body memory, that is memory of and in the body felt through movement, and movement and mobility, that is how mobility influences our capacities to remember, what we remember while mobile, and how specific sites of memory are designed with mobility in mind. I consider intersections of mobility and memory in the context of empirical work undertaken at sites of Singaporean World War II commemoration. I used my body as a tool for this research; I felt and read memory at the memorial sites. I also used movement through the sites. Being mobile prompted consideration of how movement, spontaneous and along designed pathways, at/through/with these memory sites, influenced memory, its (re)production, transmission and/or performance.