The Earth Remembers Everything.

In 2004, I travelled to Auschwitz and Birkenau to witness the site of a massacre. Though I did not comprehend its impact on a visceral level then, the experience sifted through and emerged in my writing as a profound connection to place. In addition to Auschwitz, I have been to massacre sites in Asia, the central interior and northwest coast of British Columbia. My thesis is a creative recounting of these experiences. I chose the genre of creative non-fiction, as it allows me to use my poetic prose voice to describe my lived experience, and intersperse it with historical information. I am drawn to places of disruption and deep emotion, and in finding narrative that explores these wounded places. In my thesis I hope to show the links between all these places, starting with my presence in all of them. Though I do not own the stories of any of these places, I do own my experience of these places. This is a record of my experience. Edward S Casey contends that we hold memories in the body, which is the centre of our phenomenological experience of the world. I argue that just as our bodies hold our memories and experiences, the earth too holds memories. When we go to a site where there has been great feeling, we participate in that experience through the memories the earth holds. Just as we are changed by a place, we in turn change a place by our presence our own thoughts and energies are mixed in with the undercurrent of energy that is already there. The hybrid thesis has given me the freedom to pursue my interests in imagination, memory and place. It has enabled me to see my own creative work and life experience through the lens of philosophers such as Casey, Jeff Malpas, Yi-Fu Tuan and Simon Schama. Seeing my words woven with theirs has made me reflect more fully on the power of place, and my own place in the world. --P. i-ii