Date of Award
Spring 2025
Language
English, Jamaican Patois
Embargo Period
4-30-2025
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
College/School/Department
Department of English
Program
English
First Advisor
Aashish Kaul
Second Advisor
Dr. Laura Wilder
Keywords
Memory, Family, Grief, Fragmentation, Silence, Archive, Emotion, Reconciliation, Identity, Preservation
Subject Categories
Arts and Humanities | Creative Writing | English Language and Literature | Fiction
Abstract
This creative thesis starts from the idea that memory is shaped as much by the present as by the past. It explores the emotional and personal complexities of family estrangement, grief, survival, and love. Inspired by Saidiya Hartman’s idea that “every generation confronts the task of choosing its past,” the project moves away from more traditional storytelling and instead is constructed as a collection of archival elements, that includes prose. What originally intended to be a collection of short stories gradually became a fictional family archive—made up of letters, text messages, and other everyday items—that reflects the messy, often conflicting ways we remember. Influenced by writers like Toni Morrison, Christina Sharpe, Alice Walker, and Abdellah Taïa, the thesis draws from autofiction, memory work, and self-preservation practices to tell stories about characters shaped, but not entirely defined, by the histories they inherit and the silences that surround them. Rather than forcing clear endings, the form relies on fragmentation and muddiness, embracing the uncertainty and discomfort that come with our memories. In doing so, this project becomes both a form of storytelling and a way of sharing what might otherwise be lost. It honors what is the most fragile, overlooked, and unfinished, and makes a case that even imperfect memories are worth holding on to.
License
This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.
Recommended Citation
McCallum, Kristen, "“Broken Things: An Archive”" (2025). Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present). 156.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/etd/156
