How Can Alison Landsberg’s Definition of “Prosthetic Memory” Be Critically Applied to Describe the Concept of a Museum of Memory? Discuss with Reference to One Museum of Your Choice

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How can Alison Landsberg’s definition of “prosthetic memory” be critically applied to describe the concept of a museum of memory? Discuss with reference to one museum of your choice. [1]Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened. Winston Churchill Churchill's words reflect a need to counteract the desire to forget other people's suffering in the face of the destruction of memories in the public consciousness, specifically [2]'the Nazis' attempt to wipe out a people and the memory that they ever existed'. Museums have responded by taking on the role of memory keepers, to preserve and tell the story of this terrible period. Alison Landsberg in her book Prosthetic Memory – the Transformation of American Remembrance in the Age of Mass Culture, responds to the challenges of modernity and Churchill's concerns by providing a new theory as to how the utilisation of modern technologies, mass media and experiential museums allows viewers to absorb other memories as their own, despite never having directly lived through them as individuals. In this essay I will introduce Landsberg's concept and explain its position within the larger memory debate. I will offer opposing critiques to her theory of 'prosthetic memory' and refer to a specific 'Memory Museum' - The Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem, Israel's definitive museum and memorial to the six million victims of the Holocaust. I will explore the various techniques that Yad Vashem utilises in order to convey its message, particularly regarding how it mobilises Landsberg's concept to create empathy, to what extent it is effective and whether these methods can lead to a positive outcome reflecting Landsberg's ideals about the potential power of memory- making within the visitor. How does the individual viewer perceive the memory

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