“Wilkomirski Syndrome, Victims of Satanists, and Other Cases of False Memories” — A Lecture by Social Anthropologist Anna Kirzyuk

“Wilkomirski Syndrome, Victims of Satanists, and Other Cases of False Memories” — A Lecture by Social Anthropologist Anna Kirzyuk

In this lecture, we’ll explore both well-known and lesser-known cases of false memories and try to understand how personal memory is connected to society’s collective understanding of the past.

We’ll discuss:

• Why people remember events that never actually happened to them and how such memories are formed;

• What makes false memories so convincing and why some stories are believed more readily than others;

• How memory shapes personal identity;

• How our perceptions of the past help us make sense of our own lives and the present.