Memory is shaped by language

I attended my first London Taiwan Seminar early this year. One of the talks was a study about how unexpressive were the survivors of the massacre in a small villiage in northern Taiwan. The incident happened in early 50s, most men in the villiage were accused of being communist party members. They were arrested by the Nationalism party police. There seemed no trials and no one returned to his home alive.

The research was conducted recently, widows are around 70 of age, the children in their 50s were interviewed. Their memories of grief and pain are beyong description, literally. According to the research, very few can clearly recall how they felt, many claimed their memories were blocked out.

One possible explanation is that the survivors were not actively talking about their experience until recent due to political reasons. The memories were not formulated in an expressive way for 40+ years. Claiming a block out could be an quick way out of describing it.

Language dictates how we process logics in every day life, not surprisingly, memories are shaped by our language usage. How you remember an event largely depends on the culture and values you grewo up with. Opinions forms and memories were so what altered.

I am talking shit, I don't really know anything of this subject, but it is indeed interesting. I remember when I was a kid, my dad told me many stories about his childhood. I always imagine a little boy wondering around the farmland and the little boy has my father's grown-up face.