CfP: Transitions of Memory. Narratives of Violence in the 20th and 21th Centuries. Online and Carpi, 14-15 October 2021

Call for Papers: Transitions of Memory. Narratives of Violence in the 20th and 21th Centuries. Online and Carpi, 14-15 October 2021

Transitions of memory continues the activities of the Fossoli Foundation Study Centre along the lines of the previous Sites of Transit in Europe from WWII to the present. History, Spaces, Memories (2018) from which was taken the volume Camps of Transit, Sites of Memory. Past, Present, Perspectives about to be published by Peter Lang as part of the Cultural Memories series. The conference is rooted in the primary mission of the Fossoli Foundation, which is responsible for promoting research and preserving and conveying the history and memories of the Fossoli Camp and the places of memory in Carpi connected to it, the Museum and Monument to the Political and Racial Deportee in Carpi and the former synagogues.

The conference invites scholars from all disciplines interested in the topics of memory to
confront the subject of the memory of violence, its stratifications, narratives and transitions
during the 20th century and up to the present from a multidisciplinary and comparative point of
view. Insights are requested that relate to the different methods and multiple tools for recounting
a traumatic event, from historical reconstruction to representation in artistic and architectural
form, from the collection and presentation of testimonies to the use of media and new
technologies.

The papers can focus on Italian or foreign experiences – even making comparisons – and
consider one or more aspects related to history, memory, the organisation of space, function and
their narratives and representations, using a mono- or multidisciplinary approach.

The conference will be divided into four sessions:

  • Places and modification of the traces of violence
  • Violence and dynamics of memory
  • The border as a place of trauma: stories and narratives
  • Memory of violence: conflicts, revisions and denials

More information about the conference be found here. Abstracts in English or Italian of 800-1000 words are due by 1 June to ricerca@centrostudifossoli.org or amministrazione@centrostudifossoli.it. See more information in the full call for papers.

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