Messengers of the extraordinary: the role of souvenirs in academic development

Abstract

Almost everyone is, in one way or another, a collector of souvenirs. People like to be reminded of special moments and events, and a souvenir serves as such a reminder; indeed, the word itself means “to remember”. The universality of the souvenir can be understood in light of its underlying role or function. As an actual object, it concretizes or makes tangible what was otherwise only an intangible state. Its physical presence helps locate, define, and freeze in time a fleeting, transitory experience, and bring back into ordinary experience something of the quality of an extraordinary experience. (Gordon 1986, p. 135)