Conflict, Memory Transfers and the Reshaping of Europe
Editor: Helena Gonçalves da Silva, Adriana Alves de Paula Martins, Filomena Viana Guarda and José Miguel Sardica
Date Of Publication: Apr 2010
Isbn13: 978-1-4438-1914-5
Isbn: 1-4438-1914-X
Conflict, Memory Transfers and the Reshaping of Europe discusses processes of memory construction associated with the realities of war and genocide, totalitarianism, colonialism as well as trans-border dialogues in the overcoming of conflict memories. It is based on the premise that there are no available clear-cut or definite positions to approach the problematic issues of conflict, memory and history. Consequently, it examines and articulates across several different media discourses, problems, contexts and considerations of value. Its scope is thus deliberately interdisciplinary, drawing on the cross-fertilization of diverse research methods.

The book addresses a number of issues and raises questions that have been crucial to our modern thought, and problematic or even inexplicable to any cultural theory that approaches history with an ethical approach. It works through and evaluates ongoing representative processes, strategies and practices, next to longstanding constraints, dilemmas and taboos regarding discussions of contentious matters. The different perspectives from which the issues of conflict, identity and memory are examined, in authoritarian, new European and (post-) colonial contexts, provide examples of power and conflict memory intervening in discourse and areas of cultural practice, destabilizing fixed or encoded meaning. It examines how the “making sense” of our memories—so vital for the qualification of culture and social practices—is about concepts and ideas, as well as emotions and attachments, i.e. meaning resulting from effective social exchange framed by specific contexts of interpretation. As such, the book is also a contribution to a memory culture that is pushing forward the clarification of conflicts, crystallizations of tension and all sorts of threads that bind us, very often invisibly, to the past.

Helena Gonçalves da Silva is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Lisbon, where she teaches German Literature, Cultural Theory and Culture Studies. She has published and edited books on German literature, the image of the city, and European cultural memory and identity.

Adriana Alves de Paula Martins is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Human Sciences at the Portuguese Catholic University, where she teaches Theories of Representation, Portuguese Cinema, and Literary Landmarks in Western Civilisation. She has published and edited books on comparative literature, Portuguese literature, cultural studies and intercomprehension.

Filomena Viana Guarda is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Arts, University of Lisbon, where she teaches Contemporary German Literature, German Culture and Literary Studies. She has published on the issue of history and postmemory, mainly in second- and third-generation World War II narratives.

José Miguel Sardica is Assistant Professor of Contemporary History at the Faculty of Human Sciences and at the Political Studies Institute of Portuguese Catholic University. In addition to articles and papers in specialized history journals, he has published six books on political, institutional and cultural contemporary Portuguese history, including Twentieth Century Portugal: A Historical Overview (2008).

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