I am a PhD student in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Toronto, as well as a feminist activist, social researcher, and performer specializing in critical trauma and memory studies. I hold a master’s degree in Cultural Studies from Iran and a second master’s degree in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Saskatchewan. My second master’s thesis, Diasporic Body-Memory Politics: Sexualized Public-Role Surveillance in Post-Revolutionary and Post-War Iran, examines how the totalitarian political-Islamic regime has shaped Iranian women’s bodies and sexualities, embedding trauma into their everyday lives. My work seeks to bridge the relationship between bodily trauma and oppressive political systems through performativity, collective memory work and biography. My current research explores the interplay between Iranian women’s childhood memories and emerging regimes of temporality, investigating how these forces shape experiences of loss and dreaming—emotionally, psychoanalytically, nationally, and transnationally.
Field of interests: New Materialism and Affect Theory, Critical Trauma and Memory Studies, Archival Studies, Transnational and Middle Eastern Feminism(s), Collective Memory Work and Collective Biography, Research-creation and Collective Processes of Knowledge Co-creation
Email Address: Haleh.mirmiri@mail.utoronto.ca
My Contribution to the Symposium
Presentation Title: Collective Memory-Work: Possibilities and Limitations of A Process
This presentation engages with the question, How much of a memory can be represented, and what is the process through which this happens? To explore this, I will first reflect on my experience conducting collective memory work for my master’s thesis, discussing its subject, significance, and methodology. I will then open a dialogue on the nature of memory itself, inviting participants to contribute their perspectives on how memory is formed and recalled. Building on this discussion, I will examine the challenges of representing memory, particularly in the absence of tangible records such as images or videos. Through audience participation and shared reflections, we will consider how memory operates through signification and what strategies might help navigate its elusive nature. The session will conclude with an interactive exercise using a visual prompt, culminating in a crafted memory story that encapsulates our collective exploration.