Memory studies

Research centre for memory studies

Leader: Kateřina Králová

The Research Center for Memory Studies (RCMS) at the Institute of International Studies, Charles University, promotes and facilitates research in memory studies by bringing together a vibrant community of scholars from various disciplines in dialogue about memory and (non)hegemonic narratives. The purpose of the research centre is to facilitate interaction, exchange, and collaboration among its members and the wider community and provide a platform to increase the visibility of our research. With its initiatives, RCMS aims to shape the trajectory of memory studies by discussing new research questions and methodologies in the field.

Members

Selected projects

Selected publications

  • Králová, K. (2021). Breaking out of Silence : Victims of the 1944 Distomo Massacre in Greek-German Relations. Suedosteuropa-Mitteilungen, 61(2-3), 81-91.
  • Asavei, M. (2021). Cultural Memory and Political Resistance through Religious / Spiritual Art in (Post) Communist Romania. In M. Draga-Alexandru, & D. Manea (Eds.), Religious Narratives in Contemporary Culture : Between Cultural Memory and Transmediality (pp. 73-94). Brill.
  • Asavei, M. (2021). The Artistic Memory of the Holocaust as a New Direction in Commemorative Practices in Central and South-East Europe. In R. Bouchet, H. Lecossois, D. Letort, & S. Tison (Eds.), Résurgences conflictuelles : le travail de mémoire entre arts et histoire (pp. 329-347). Presses Universitaire de Rennes.
  • Králová, K., & Kocián, J. (2020). German Collective Guilt in the Narratives of Southeastern European Holocaust Survivors. In M. Zakić, & C. Molnar (Eds.), German-Balkan Entangled Histories in the Twentieth Century (pp. 114-135). University of Pittsburgh Press.
  • Asavei, M. (2020). "Call the witness": Romani Holocaust related art in Austria and Marika Schmiedt's will to memory. Memory Studies, 13(1), 107-123.
  • Bauer, P. (2020). A dance performance for D-Day celebrations: reflections on the aesthetic of war commemorations in France. Contemporary French Civilization, 45(2), 165-187.
  • Švec, L. (2020). Demontáž sovětského dějinného paradigmatu v Lotyšsku na konci 80. let 20. století:některé aspekty kontinuity a diskontinuity. Slovanský přehled. Review for the History of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, 106(3), 547-567.
  • Kozák, K., Tóth, G., Bauer, P., & Wanger, A. (2019). Memory in Transatlantic Relations : From the Cold War to the Global War on Terror. Routledge.
  • Kozák, K. (2019). 1968 as a symbol. Review of International American Studies, 12(2), 25-26.
  • Králová, K. (2018). Being a Holocaust Survivor in Greece: Narratives of the Postwar Period, 1944-1953. In G. Antoniou, & A. Moses (Eds.), The Holocaust in Greece (pp. 304-326). Cambridge University Press.
  • Matějka, O. (2018). Social Engineering and Alienation between East and West: Czech Christian-Marxist Dialogue in the 1960s from the National Level to the Global Arena. In M. Christian, S. Kott, & O. Matějka (Eds.), Planning in Cold War Europe : Competition, Cooperation, Circulations (1950s-1970s) (pp. 165-186). De Gruyter.
  • Asavei, M., & Kocián, J. (2017). Gendered Histories/Memories of Labour in (Post-) Communist Romania and Former Czechoslovakia Illuminated through Artistic Production. Analize – Journal of Gender and Feminist Studies [online], 8(22), 9-37.
  • Králová, K. (2016). Das Vermächtnis der Besatzung. Deutsch-griechische Beziehungen seit 1940. Böhlau Verlag.

Past events

Social Memories and Historical Narratives: Sources & Methodology

On Friday, 15 September, the Research Centre held an internal workshop entitled "Social Memories and Historical Narratives: Sources & Methodology". The workshop featured presentations by junior and senior members of the Center. The full programme of the event can be viewed here

Borderworlds: Temporal, Geographical and Psychosocial Exploration of Symbolic Border Conference

The conference took place from 7-10 June 2023. It was held as part of the Borderwords project, funded by the St Andrews Joint Seed Funding, which enables participants to create new forms of collaboration and discuss the boundaries of migration, memory and narratives of the past and present.

Train to Freedom Project's Bloc Seminar & Fieldwork

The seminar and fieldwork are being conducted in June 2023 as part of the Train to Freedom project, initiated by the Berlin-based Mamlock Foundation and the Department for Democracy Education and Human Rights and now jointly implemented by Charles University in Prague and Freie Universität Berlin.

BTHA Workshop - Prague on "Difficult Heritage"

Kateřina Králová in cooperation with the Institute of International Studies of the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University (CUNI) and the Department of European History of the University of Regensburg (UR) organized a workshop on the topic of memory studies.

4EU+ Online Seminar. Themes and Approaches in Contemporary European Memory Studies

The online seminar was co-led by researchers from the Universities of Prague, Warsaw, Sorbonne, Milan, Heidelberg and Copenhagen in collaboration with COST CA20105 Slow Memory and the Centre for Social Memory Research (Warsaw). The course was taught in the spring of 2023.

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