econstructed and prone to error ( 11 ). So far, memory distortions have been investigated in subjects who have typical memory ability [children ( 12 ), adults ( 7 ), older adults ( 13 )], but not with people with unusually strong memory ability. Memory-distortion phenomena have been explained by theoretical models that state that memory is reconstructed from traces at retrieval ( 1 , 3 , 14 ), is not reproduced from a permanent recording ( 15 ), and is prone to errors caused by source confusion ( 16 ) and association ( 17 , 18 ). These studies and theoretical models paint a picture of human memory as malleable and prone to errors. However, a small number of individuals who have recently been identified appear to be uniquely gifted in their ability to accurately remember even trivial details from their distant past ( 19 – 21 ). Highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM; also known as hyperthymesia) individuals can remember the day of the week a date fell on and details of what happened that day from every day of their life since mid-childhood. For details that can be verified, HSAM individuals are correct 97% of the time ( 20 ). For example, when one individual was asked what happened on October 19, 1987, she immediately responded with, “It was a Monday. That was the day of the big stock market crash and the cellist Jacqueline du Pré died that day.” HSAM individuals can remember what happened on a day a decade ago better than most people can remember a day a month ago. In some ways, these abilities seem to be at odds with what we know about the reconstructive, unreliable, and malleable processes underlying memory in people with typical memory. HSAM abilities are distinct from previously described superior-memory individuals ( 22 – 25 ) who typically rely upon practiced mnemonics to remember unusually long lists of domain-specific data, yet remain average in their ability to retrieve autobiographical information. In contrast, HSAM individuals seem not to be superi

Within and beyond South Africa’s borders, memory is studied across a wide range of disciplines in what has been dubbed the “memory boom” (e.g. Blight 2009: 238; Simine 2013). Ethics, too, has spilled out from traditional theological and philosophical discourses. The “ethical turn” (Davis and Womack 2001; Fassin 2014) is apparent in disciplines as diverse as literary studies and anthropology. Ethics, which is broadly defined as involving moral principles of right and wrong conduct, as well as concepts of good, obligation, virtue, freedom, rationality, choice (Fieser n.d.; Blackburn 2016), may seem to have little to do with memory. A great deal of what we as individuals remember or forget is likely to be involuntary; how can principles of right and wrong, duty and choice, be relevant? Remembering and forgetting are independent of ethics when they are beyond conscious control such as in individuals who have extraordinary recall (hyperthymesia) or those who cannot retain memories (due to dementia or amnesia or trauma); this is true, too, for those who, like most of us, fall between these two extremes and are, for much of the time, simply unable to retain or rid ourselves of certain memories. Surely, absent-mindedness or forgetting cannot be held to be a moral failing? But remembering and forgetting are imbricated in ethics when we are conscious of an obligation to remember, or to remember accurately, or when we select, on the basis of ethical principles, particular items (events or people) which will be actively and intentionally prevented from slipping into oblivion. As individuals we celebrate anniversaries and the birthdays of people who matter to us; as communities, we adopt commemorative public holidays, we erect statues and fund museums, and we promote versions of history to be passed on to youth. What should we remember in the present and into the future? What are the ethical principles which shape such obligations? This special issue contributes to debates around memory and ethics, in particular as these inflect South African writing practices, in memoirs, fiction and memory work. In “Re-signing History and Opening up an Ethical Space of Disclosure: Yvette Christiansë’s Wyschogrodian Ethics in Unconfessed”, Alexandra Negri examines the ethical implications of Christaansë’s ratification of Edith Wyschogrod’s contention in An Ethics of Remembering that the “heterological historian” has a responsibility to give a voice to the dead. Negri appraises Christaansë’s use of the archival records of the trial of the slave Sila van den Kaap to spur the crafting of “an elliptical, fragmented novel” which explores Sila’s experiences and thoughts before and after she murdered her son. Negri shows how Christaansë employs court records – by definition, the records of the dominant power – to attend to the story of one of history’s most disempowered and also to shed light on the broader historical context and profoundly unethical practices of the Cape slave society. The next essay, by Aghogho Akpome, focuses on two texts which critique hegemonic South African memory practices. The ruling party, the ANC, has actively supported efforts to record and remind South Africans of the apartheid past. In “Memory, Ethics and the Re-temporalisation of