Call for Papers: International conference “Sites of Transit in Europe from WW2 to the present. History, Spaces, Memories”. Carpi, Italy, 4-5 October 2018
The conference aims to analyse the roles and uses of transit camps and sites in the European historical, geographical and cultural context from WW2 to today from a multidisciplinary and comparative perspective. The two-day conference is organized by the Fondazione Campo Fossoli, whose mission is to preserve and transmit the history and memories of this Italian site of transit.
Fossoli is a key example of a site of transit within the broader history of forced population displacements in 20th-century Europe.
The Fossoli case touches on a number of important general issues for the study of sites of transit. The site of transit is a place in which different memories and meanings overlap. Decade after decade, transit camps are used and re-used for different, sometimes antagonistic purposes, with heterogeneous events and stories that write and overwrite the very meaning of the place. Sites of transit are places in which meanings are stratified through time, and in which their uses and the different roles they play change together with the historical context.
The full call for papers with possible themes for papers is available here.
Abstracts can be submitted in Italian or English (max 600 words), focusing either on Fossoli or on other sites of transit in Italy and Europe (also in a comparative perspective). Abstracts should be accompanied by a brief biographical profile (max 300 words). The abstract should describe the topic and the specific object of analysis as well as aims and methodology, accompanied by a bibliography (max 10 titles that will not count towards the 600 words limit). Proposals will be evaluated and selected by the scientific committee.
Abstract, profile and bibliography should be sent to ricerca@centrostudifossoli.org by 17 June 2018.
Accepted contributors will be asked to send a summary of their paper in Italian or English (max 2000 words, notes and bibliography not included) to the scientific committee and discussants by 31 July 2018. The selected contributors will have 20 minutes to present the paper at the conference.
After the conference, a selected number of speakers will be invited to contribute to a book to be published within the Fondazione Campo Fossoli book series.
More information about the conference can be found here.