Bulletin No. 5/2024

Dear members of the Slow Memory Community,

We hope that you are enjoying spring time at the moment. This is the 5^th instalment of the Slow Memory Bulletin, the newsletter to keep you in the loop regarding events, projects, publications, and more. The Action now has 295 individual members, so we do need this medium of communication more than ever!

If you wish to contribute to this newsletter, contact the Communications Team, Hanna Teichler and Taylor McConnell.

2024 Annual Meeting in Belgrade, Serbia (May 27-31)

Preparations for the next Annual Meeting in Belgrade are well under way. We are very grateful that Orli Fridman and Jovan Ivanovic are organizing what promises to be the next engaging and unforgettable Annual Meeting. The main meeting will be preceded by a Training School, for which more than 70 Early Career scholars have applied. Alas, we are only able to invite a fraction! Stay tuned for more information and keep an eye out on the homepage, especially with regard to information related to travel and accommodation.

Change in Leadership of Working Groups 6 and 7 

Isabel Machado Alexandre and Taylor McConnell have been elected as the new Co-chairs of Working Group 6 and 7 respectively. Welcome and thank you for your commitment! We warmly thank Frédéric Clavert for his commitment and efforts as Communication Officer.  

Calls for Applications: Short Term Scientific Missions (STSM) and Conference Grants (ITC & Dissemination)

A central aim of the Slow Memory COST Action is to facilitate exchange, foster interdisciplinarity, and enable mobility. To that end, members of the Action are once again invited to submit applications for short-term scientific missions or conference grants. Find out more about rules and regulations on our webpage. Please note that the deadline for applications is April 15, 2024. If you have any questions, please direct your enquiry to Vjeran Pavlakovic (STSM) or Deniz Gündogan Ibrisim (Grants). 

Slow MeMo Cross Cutting Theme: Language

The cross-cutting theme of language is an important aspect of the Slow Memory programme. Do get in touch with Natalie Braber if you have been considering language as part of your working groups — this could be producing multilingual resources, bibliographies or maybe your research includes some aspect of language or linguistics. It would be great to share ideas and methods of good practice! 

Working Papers and Other Publications 

Another key element of this COST Action are the publications that emerge from it. We have already assembled quite the collection of Working Papers authored by members of different Working Groups, and two more have now been published on our webpage. 

• ‘Transformations of Welfare’, co-authored by Steven D. Brown (Nottingham Trent University), Kateřina Králová (Charles University), Marileen La Haije (Universität zu Köln), Isabel Machado Alexandre (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa) for Working Group 2
• ‘Memoryscapes, Tourism, and the Environment in Croatia: Slow Memory and Sites of Conflict and Slow Violence’, by Josef Djordjevski (Centre for Southeast European Studies Graz) for Working Group 4

To read all working papers, visit this space. 

Miscellaneous

• Online Course ‘The Twentieth Century in European Memory: Themes and Approaches in Contemporary European Memory Studies’(March 6^th to May 29^th, 2024), Kateřina Králová and Rose Smith

The course introduces the main concept and approaches within memory studies relating them to reflect on care and welfare. 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 Microsoft Teams by top academic experts in the field of Memory Studies from 4EU+ partner universities and the COST Action Slow Memory. 

The next session will take place on March 27, 9.30 am CET. Register here for the event. Find out about the schedule and more on our webpage! 

• Call for Papers: Workshop ‘Islands of Memory’
  
  8^thto 9^th June, Stari Grad, Hvar, Croatia
  Co-organized by Vjeran Pavlakovic and Florian Bieber
  Submission Deadline: 1^st of April, 2024
  Find out more on our webpage. 
  
  
• We are currently developing the Slow Memory Podcastas a joint project across the Action. Listen to the first episode published on our homepage. Stay tuned for more episodes and more information on where and how to subscribe!
  
  
• Follow us on Blueskyto receive regular updates!
  
  
• We warmly thank Vjollca Krasniqi (Co-Chair Working Group 6) for organizing an unforgettable Core Group Meeting in Prishtina (Kosovo) earlier this month!
  
  

We are looking forward to seeing many of you in May in Belgrade!

With our best wishes,

Jenny Wüstenberg & Joanna Wawrzyniak (Action Co-Chairs)
Hanna Teichler & Taylor McConnell (Communication & Dissemination)