The Twentieth Century in European Memory

The Twentieth Century in European Memory

Themes and Approaches in Contemporary European Memory Studies

4EU+ partner course, co-taught by researchers at the Universities of Prague, Warzaw, Sorbonne, Milan, Heidelberg, Copenhagen and CA20105 Slow Memory.

Contested memories and painful pasts regularly re-appear in the Europan public sphere on transnational, national, and regional levels. Most recently, the war in Ukraine has instigated a new wave of memory themes and disputes, as various memory narratives are activated for numerous purposes, including explaining warfare, justifying various politics, attempting to explain ongoing events, bolstering identities, or mobilizing for political positioning or activism.

This collaborative course asks why we need memory and memory studies. What kinds of roles does memory play in contemporary Europe? The course introduces the main concept and approaches within memory studies. Drawing on case studies from different European countries and regions, the course explores different ways of remembering Europe’s complicated past and investigates how these forms of remembering influence life, politics, and culture across contemporary Europe.

The course will take place in a virtual format with online lectures and seminars taught on Zoom by top academic experts in the field of Memory Studies from 4EU+ partner universities and the COST Action Slow Memory. Each session, except the Introduction and Wrap-up which are solely for students enrolled in the class, consists of an expert talk and Q&A and is a live stream. The recordings serve exclusively as an internal project archive.

For more information about this events series, please reach out to this facebook page.

Introductory part

  • 1. 3. 2023 Why do we need memory studies?
    Overview of course (Joint lecture)
  • 8. 3. 2023 What do we mean by Slow Memory?
    Round table with members of the EU network COST Action Slow Memory Joanna Wawrzyniak, Tea Sindbæk Andersen, TBC moderated by K. Králová
    Registration

Case studies

Latest Updates

 5-7 June 2025, Nottingham, United Kingdom   Keynote: Ann Rigney (Utrecht University)Organisers: Jenny Wüstenberg, Natalie Braber, Chris Reynolds, Jenny Woodley (AIMS@NTU)  “Collective memory is constantly ‘in the works’ and, like a swimmer, has to keep moving even just to stay afloat.” This is how Ann Rigney (2008) conceptualized remembering – not as a fixed repository...

Slow Memory Bulletin 6/2024 Dear Slow Memory Community, We hope this email finds you well and in good spirits. As we are approaching our final grant year, we have some news to share with you. You can always keep up to date with us on Facebook and Instagram and newly on LinkedIn and Bluesky! *Slow...

organized by Vjollca Krasniqi & Layla Zibar DR. ANA MILOSEVIC & UNESCO REPRESENTATIVE – INTRODUCED BY PROF. JENNY WüSTENBERG The workshop will take place online on 11-12 December , 10-12 am (CET). Register via this link.  In this workshop, participants will acquire a comprehensive understanding of “slow memory” concepts and their relevance to policy-making, while...

Slow Memory COST Action (CA20105) Capstone Conference in Porto, 2-5 July 2025 Organized by Alice Semedo and Isabel Machado Alexandre From 2021 to 2025, the COST Action “Slow Memory: Transformative Practices for Times of Uneven and Accelerating Change” has brought together over 300 scholars and stakeholders, from over 40 countries, many disciplines and career stages....

Action members Sara Jones and Thomas Van de Putte have just published an essay titled “Following the well-trodden paths of the past”. Check it out via this link.  Abstract: The event-based focus of much memory studies scholarship appears to centre the field on ruptures, and yet theories of cultural memory also consider how those ruptures...

The Memory Studies Association invites proposals for its ninth annual conference, to be held from 14 to 18 July 2025 at Charles University and the Czech Academy of Sciences in the historic city of Prague. This on-site conference aims to carry over from earlier conferences a transdisciplinary conversation on memory and its social, cultural and public...

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