Lecture: “Memory As Medicine: Reflections on History.”
Dr. Brett Walker,
Regents Professor of History, Montana State University, Bozeman.
Thursday, April 19.
3:30-5:00 pm, Jaqua Center Auditorium.
UO Graduate School alums are doing amazing work! To showcase some of their accomplishments, three distinguished alumni of the Graduate School will come back to Eugene to speak about their work and lives since graduating. These talks – planned in concert with the departments from which the alums graduated – will be open to the campus community and beyond.
The series continues with Dr. Brett Walker, Regents Professor of History at Montana State University (MSU). Walker is a critically acclaimed author, writing five books since receiving his Ph.D. from the UO Department of History in 1997. His first three books are widely admired and influential in both Japanese and environmental history. This talk will focus on his most recent book, A Family History of Illness: Memory as Medicine, a historical memoir that examines the body’s immune system and microbial composition as well as the biological and cultural origins of memory and history. The book explores the ways in which family legacies shape us both physically and symbolically, forming the root of our identity and values, and urges people to renew their interest in the past or risk misunderstanding ourselves and the world around us.
