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

• 15. 3. 2023 Memory, migration and literature
  Jessica Ortner, University of Copenhagen
  (STARTING AT 10:30!)
• 22. 3. 2023 Memory, Welfare and Oral history
  Verusca Calabria, Nottingham Trent University
  Members of the EU network COST Action Slow Memory
• 29. 3. 2023 Narrating the Holocaust
  Katerina Kralova, Charles University, Prague
  Members of the EU network COST Action Slow Memory
• 5. 4. 2023 Exhibitions of ‘Diversity’ in France through Visual Culture and Literature
  Giancarlo Maria Grossi & Silvia Riva, University of Milan
• 12. 4. 2023 Remembering the Holocaust through Virtual and Augmented Technologies
  Elisabetta Modena & Pietro Conte, University of Milan
• 19. 4. 2023 Digital Archives: Memory Preservation and Representation
  Jiří Kocian, Charles University, Prague
• 26. 4. 2023 Landscape/environmental memory
  Luba Jurgenson, University of Sorbonne
• 3. 5. 2023 Industrial memories
  Joanna Wawrzyniak, University of Warszawa
  Members of the EU network COST Action Slow Memory
• 10. 5. 2023 Cultural Heritage and Memory Politics
  Thomas Matthias Schmitt, University of Heidelberg
• 17. 5. 2023 Cultural memories, circulation and reception
  Tea Sindbæk Andersen, University of Copenhagen
  Member of the EU network COST Action Slow Memory
• 24. 5. 2023 WRAP UP