Regimes of Memory II. Types of Trauma Management in Central and Eastern Europe

All correspondence was addressed to:

• Prof. Ivan Denes (Academia Europaea Member, István Bibó Center for Advanced Studies of the Social Sciences and Humanities, Budapest)
• Prof. Siegfried Huigen (Academia Europaea Member, University of Wrocław)
• Prof. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz (Willy Brandt Center for German and European Studies, Wrocław)
• Dr Piotr Sula (Institute of Political Science, University of Wrocław)
• Dr Adam Cianciara (Regional Office on International Relations, Wrocław)
• Dr Aleksandra Nowak (Academia Europaea Knowledge Hub-Wrocław)

SEMINAR LANGUAGE: English.

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS: The organisers provided accommodation and meals as well as reimbursed travel expenses (to a certain maximum1), conference fee, insurance costs, and the costs of publication2 of the refereed conference papers.

Academia Europaea, Polish Regional Office on International Relations in Wrocław, Willy Brandt Centre for German and European Studies, and the Institute of Political Science at the University of Wrocław invited young scholars (PhD candidates and postdocs) to take part in an interdisciplinary conference held in Wrocław (Poland) on October 9-10, 2014.

Context and rationale:

The region of Central and Eastern Europe is overburdened with history, centuries-old grudges, rival narratives, and ethnopolitical conflicts. From Poland and Baltic states, through Ukraine and Hungary, to the East and West Balkans, political cultures are dominated by various grievances, fears and pursuits of amends as a consequence of unprocessed historical traumas. Competing regimes of memory manifest themselves in different interpretations of symbolic dates, places, and traditions. Undoubtedly, they are substantial parts of national and communal identities, but at the same time they preserve and in many cases fuel historical traumas, grievances, and past resentments. That vicious circle of commemorating history and fuelling historical grudges poses questions about the role played by collective memory in the processes of trauma management and reconciliation. Can we keep the memory of historical events alive without preserving historical grievances? What is required for reconciliation: the act of forgiving or the act of forgetting? The goal of the conference was to assess the various means by which communities and nations could and can overcome historical resentments. A selection of the conference papers were published in the quarterly New Eastern Europe.

Interdisciplinary approach: Conference papers from the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Topics:

• • Specific regimes of memory in Central and Eastern Europe

• • Processes of trauma management and reconciliation in Central and Eastern Europe

• • Collective memory and its management

• • Conflict and reconciliation

• • Forgetting as a way of overcoming historical trauma

• • The role of language and narratives as transmitters of history

• • The management of archives and museums with regard to histories of trauma

APPLICATION: The registration was available at www.acadeuro.wroclaw.pl; submission of a 300-word proposal and a curriculum vitae with a list of publications was required by May 4, 2014. All applicants were notified about the selection of participants before May 16, 2014.

SECOND REQUIREMENT: Selected candidates were asked to provide a 3,000 to 5,000-word paper by September 10, 2014. The papers, which had not been previously published, were made available online. All workshop participants were asked to read these submissions prior to the conference. The participants who did not meet the submission deadline were not able to attend the conference.

TARGET GROUP: early career postdoctoral researchers and PhD candidates.