CfP: Slow Memory. Perspectives from Central and Eastern Europe​

CfP: Slow Memory. Perspectives from Central and Eastern Europe​

Guest editors:

Monika Vrzgulová, Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology SAS;

Barbara Törnquist-Plewa, Lund University;

Violeta Davoliūtė, Vilnius University

This special issue of Slovak Ethnology (volume 72, No 4/2024) is thematically focused on the concept of slow memory, which relates to transformative practices and processes of uneven and accelerating change in society. We invite authors from various disciplines, such as ethnology, sociology and anthropology, history, political science, communication and media, literary studies, etc., to submit contributions that discuss and give empirical examples of the emerging concept of slow memory.

This special issue of Slovak Ethnology is thematically related to the Cost Action CA 20105 Slow Memory: Transformative Practices for Times of Uneven and Accelerating Change (SlowMemo).

Memory studies, which emerged at the end of the 20th century, brought a new way of thinking about past events into academia. Scholars within the interdisciplinary field concentrate primarily on significant or extreme past events (e.g., wars and genocides) and the meaning given to them in the present. Moreover, during the last two decades, the focus has been on emphasizing the dynamics of memories and analysing current struggles over how to remember specific events.

Consequently, memory studies as a scholarly field has been much less concerned with “slow-moving”, diffused, and symptomless events that can not simply be attributed to a particular date or place but which significantly affect peoples’ present and future. Furthermore, there has been much less attention on “la longue durée” of memory and studies of collective memories’ resilience to fast changes. Thus, the purpose of this special issue is to fill this void. We are interested in the change in slow memory processes, for example, across the generations, in educational policies, media representations or public discourse. It is essential to consider the problematic “dark past” as well as slow transformations that bring improvements in people’s lives.

We invite the contributions that conceptualize slow memory and look from new angles at how societies and individuals remember the past. The regional focus is on Eastern, Central and South-Eastern Europe, but we are also interested in contributions providing comparisons across Europe or other regions worldwide. We welcome case studies as well as theoretical or methodological articles and essays about the memories of “slow changes”, in relation to such phenomena as for example

  • images and narratives (e.g., stereotypes of “the Others” or self-images of the own group as victims);
  • remembering the significant or extreme past events (e.g., WWII and the Holocaust, the era of communist regimes, and war in the former Yugoslavia);
  • deindustrialization;
  • changes in gender relations, intergenerational relations and others;
  • the hollowing out of welfare states;
  • gentrification;
  • climate change and environmental destruction;
  • the creeping rise of misinformation.

 

Authors can submit their abstracts and keywords no later than 31st March 2024 through the journal Slovak Ethnology editorial system.

Please send the final manuscripts by 31st July 2024 and submit them through the same editorial system. They should be at most 5,000 words or 36,000 characters, including spaces, notes, and references, and should follow the journal’s guidelines for contributors.

Latest Updates

Slow Memory and the Disruptive Force of Earthquakes  Tamara Banjeglav Institute of Culture and Memory Studies, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (ZRC SAZU), Ljubljana, Slovenia Sara Helin-Long PhD, University of College Cork, Cork, Ireland for Working Group 4 In this working paper, we contend with the potential of earthquakes, as natural...

 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....

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