“The Lasting Presence of the Past: How Trauma Lives on Across Generations?” 16th Genealogies of Memory conference
23–25 September 2026, Iași, Romania
How does trauma live on after those who experienced it directly are gone? How is memory transmitted across generations — and how do silence, absence, and reconstruction shape what is remembered? These questions will be at the centre of the 16th Genealogies of Memory Conference, organised by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity (ENRS), taking place on 23–25 September 2026 in Iași, Romania.
Titled “The Lasting Presence of the Past: How Trauma Lives on Across Generations?”, this year’s conference will examine the processes of intergenerational transmission of memory, with particular attention to trauma and its enduring cultural, social, and political consequences.
Memory is never passed on unchanged. Circulating through storytelling, commemorative practices, education, archives, art, and digital media, it is shaped by its cultural and political contexts. When wars, genocides, forced displacements, repression or colonial violence disrupt a generation, transmission becomes fragmented and reconfigured.
While Central and Eastern Europe — deeply marked by twentieth-century upheavals — offers a significant point of reference, the conference adopts a comparative perspective, situating regional experiences within broader debates on postmemory, dialogic memory, and transgenerational trauma.
Among the key questions addressed are:
– How do silences, ruptures and gaps shape intergenerational memory transmission?
– What roles do institutions, political actors, families, and communities play as agents of memory?
– How do hegemonic narratives of trauma interact with counter-memories and alternative histories?
– In what ways do artistic practices, archives, and reconstructive efforts enable — or risk distorting — the representation of traumatic pasts?
– How does digital mediation reshape trauma discourse, amplifying polarisation while also enabling new forms of connection and critique?
Structured around four interconnected themes — transgenerational dynamics, hegemonic and dialogic histories, artistic and reconstructive practices, and digitally mediated memory — the conference will combine theoretical reflection with empirical case studies to foster interdisciplinary dialogue on the enduring presence of trauma in the present.
The conference will be held in English. There is no conference fee, and accommodation will be provided for accepted speakers.
The deadline for proposals is 3.5.2026. Applicants will be notified in early June, and draft papers (2,000–2,500 words) are due by 31.8.2026.
Further information and the application form are available on the website.
- Ilmoituksen tyyppi:
- Esitelmäpyyntö
- Vanhenee:
- Yhteyshenkilö nimi:
- Simona Mitroiu
- Yhteyshenkilö sähköposti:
- Verkkosivut:
- Avaa verkkosivut