2025 Kaspar Naegele Memorial Lecture | Dr. Matt Patterson on February 4


DATE
Tuesday February 4, 2025
TIME
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
COST
Free
Location
ANSO 134
6303 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver

Living with Ghosts: How Physical Traces of the Past Shape Memories of Trauma in Chinatowns

Dr. Matt Patterson

The Department of Sociology is excited to host Dr. Matt Patterson on February 4 for the 2025 Kaspar Naegele Memorial Lecture.

Dr. Patterson, Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Calgary, will present a lecture titled “Living with Ghosts: How Physical Traces of the Past Shape Memories of Trauma in Chinatowns.”

There will be a lunch reception after the talk from 12:30-1:30 PM in the Lino Lounge.

ABSTRACT

Sociological studies of trauma tend to bifurcate between realist accounts focusing on harmful events that directly impact communities, and constructivist accounts of how those events become incorporated into a community’s collective memory as “trauma”. Bridging this divide requires us to take seriously the real harms of the past, while also recognizing that the collective memorization of those harms is a creative, contingent process.

To accomplish this, I focus of the role of cultural trauma in motivating the efforts of “Save Chinatown” movements that have emerged across Canada and the United States in the past decade. While these movements are focused on present challenges like gentrification and anti-Asian racism during the COVID19 pandemic, they frame the importance of their work in relation to historical traumas that include the Chinese Exclusion Acts of the 19th and 20th centuries, and urban renewal programs that led to the demolition of large parts of Chinatowns in the postwar era. I demonstrate that these historical episodes remain salient as cultural traumas in part because of the physical traces they have left within the urban landscape. These traces can act as symbolic representations of past harms and, in many cases, continue to be a source of daily hardship in the present.

Focusing on the physical traces of past events allow us to reconcile realist and constructivist accounts by identifying how past events create the conditions under which trauma narratives are created and made salient, without determining the exact content of those narratives. More generally, the study illustrates what Dolores Hayden called “the power of place” in creating sources of community solidarity and allowing new generations to identify with harms committed against past generations on a deeply emotional level.

Matt Patterson is an urban sociologist whose research examines the relationship between cities and culture. In particular, he is interested in uncovering the ways that place characteristics such as density, demographics, and urban design influence the emergence of distinct cultural practices, products, and institutions. He has pursued this research through studies of museum development, the emergence of arts districts, and the economic and social impacts of iconic architectural projects or "starchitecture". Currently, Matt's main focus is on the role of cultural planning and placemaking projects within North American Chinatowns.

Find out more about Dr. Patterson here.


About the Kaspar Naegele Memorial Lecture

The Department of Sociology regularly holds the Kaspar Naegele Memorial Lecture in honour of Kaspar Naegele, the first Dean of the Faculty of Arts and a leading sociologist of his day.

Naegele was a co-editor of Theories of Society: Foundations of Modern Sociological Theory, a collection of classical readings in sociological theory. In 1961 he also co-edited the first Canadian collection of sociological articles in the book Canadian Society: Sociological Perspectives. The accumulated royalties from that book were endowed, and the earnings continue to fund the Kaspar Naegele Memorial Lecture.

Professor Naegele’s Legacy at UBC

The Kaspar Naegele Memorial Prize in Sociology and the Kaspar Naegele Memorial Lectureship celebrate Kaspar Naegele’s profound impact on the lives and careers of his students and colleagues during his time at the University of British Columbia.

Professor Naegele joined UBC in 1954, and his work in the following decade earned him a global reputation as a leading sociologist. When he was appointed the first Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1964, Professor Naegele put his ideas about education reform into practice. Considering his wealth of achievements at UBC, he is most fondly remembered for his teaching.

Beyond delivering lectures, Professor Naegele showed compassion for his students and was one of the most valued professors. We hope to continue growing the endowments for this lecture and the student award that honours Professor Naegele.