I had the pleasure of participating in Kei Kreutler’s latest Memory Research Group discussion, which covered an essay and some selections from Writing On Hands, a work that should appeal to anyone who enjoyed reading Marafioti’s Art of Memory.
Thanks, Mark. I'm looking forward to reading those...That is why communication is so very important -- especially today when children always are into thier electronics. It's important to talk with your children -- crucially more important in today's generation. I find many are clueless on their personal lineage. With the older generations passing on, fewer stories are passed down. I want my children to know how they came to be. A story that began before they ever came to be, and one that will continue when they are no longer here...
This just fascinates me because my grandfather used to use the hand practices for counting and as a sun dial, etc. He was a very studious man and I wasn't sure if he learned this himself or was taught it at school. He could even find his sense of direction if he got disoriented by looking to the direction of the sun and recalibrate himself that way...it's a dying practice. I remember him teaching me counting by using the hands...
That’s a fantastic anecdote, I’m also curious as to how he learned it. Would be interested was an unbroken lineage of these skills that stretched back thousands of years.
I've been doing genealogical research on my family for years now, and I know that this grandfather didn't do schooling past age 14. He couldn't afford to and had to work because his father had died young, but he was always with his nose in a book during his leisure…he traveled and worked in Brazil for a few years and was temporarily in the navy. He could have learned it anywhere…I wish he was still alive to ask him. I'm recording all I find because I feel understanding our past and understanding where we come from is so very important…
Agreed on that point, big fan of the work coming out of the Family Narrative Lab and Fivush & Duke's Do You Know survey. They found that teens who know their family history have higher emotional well-being. A sense of cultural continuity and embeddedness is key to good social hygiene.
Thanks, Mark. I'm looking forward to reading those...That is why communication is so very important -- especially today when children always are into thier electronics. It's important to talk with your children -- crucially more important in today's generation. I find many are clueless on their personal lineage. With the older generations passing on, fewer stories are passed down. I want my children to know how they came to be. A story that began before they ever came to be, and one that will continue when they are no longer here...
This just fascinates me because my grandfather used to use the hand practices for counting and as a sun dial, etc. He was a very studious man and I wasn't sure if he learned this himself or was taught it at school. He could even find his sense of direction if he got disoriented by looking to the direction of the sun and recalibrate himself that way...it's a dying practice. I remember him teaching me counting by using the hands...
That’s a fantastic anecdote, I’m also curious as to how he learned it. Would be interested was an unbroken lineage of these skills that stretched back thousands of years.
I've been doing genealogical research on my family for years now, and I know that this grandfather didn't do schooling past age 14. He couldn't afford to and had to work because his father had died young, but he was always with his nose in a book during his leisure…he traveled and worked in Brazil for a few years and was temporarily in the navy. He could have learned it anywhere…I wish he was still alive to ask him. I'm recording all I find because I feel understanding our past and understanding where we come from is so very important…
Agreed on that point, big fan of the work coming out of the Family Narrative Lab and Fivush & Duke's Do You Know survey. They found that teens who know their family history have higher emotional well-being. A sense of cultural continuity and embeddedness is key to good social hygiene.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-stories-of-our-lives/201611/the-do-you-know-20-questions-about-family-stories
https://ncph.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/The-power-of-family-history-in-adolescent-identity.pdf