Klicktipp: Remembering Activism: The Cultural Memory of Protest in Europe (Weblog)

ERC research project „Remembering Activism: The Cultural Memory of Protest in Europe“ (Web)

Mass demonstrations make the headlines. But how are they remembered when they are no longer news? And how does the cultural memory of earlier movements play into later ones? In this project, the participants address these questions. They focus on how the memory of civil resistance has been produced in documentaries, memoirs, commemorations, archiving projects as well as in the visual and literary arts. The participants believe that insight into the role of cultural memory is needed for a full understanding of civil resistance in today’s world. Since they also believe in the importance of a long-term view subprojects deal not only with recent developments but also reach back in time to the 19th century.

The project’s aim is to provide the first in-depth account of the remembering and forgetting of civil resistance in Europe which also has relevance for our understanding of movements elsewhere. The participants will be examining continuities and changes in how protest has been depicted in different media regimes; looking critically at the role of texts, images, and commemorative practices in conveying the memory of protest to later generations; and reflecting on the ways this memory feeds back into later movements at home and abroad.

Weblog

One component of the project is a weblog. The following 13 contributions have been published here since April 2019 (Web):

  • Sophie van den Elzen: International ‘Workers’ Day?
  • Clara Vlessing: International Women’s Day: Why is it on 8 March?
  • Daniele Salerno: My Grandmother the Militant: Activism as a Family Story
  • Daniele Salerno: Trans Memory Activism and Visibility: Archivo de la Memoria Trans Argentina
  • Marit van de Warenburg: Remixing the Past: The Soundtrack to Black Lives Matter
  • David Beorlegui Zarranz: Memory Activism and Transitional Justice in Spain
  • Emilia Salvanou: Memory in Antagonistic Politics: Minutes from an “Antifascist September” in Greece
  • Tashina Blom: ‘My Body My Choice’: Why the Anti-Lockdown Protesters are Appropriating Memory

  • Duygu Erbil: Activism Remembered Through the Courtroom
  • Ann Rigney: Why Monuments Matter (And When They Don’t)
  • Thomas Smits: Delacroix in Hong Kong: Activism, Memory and Visual Representation
  • Sophie van den Elzen: ActivistTM: Conspicuous Consumption and Social Change
  • Ann Rigney: Recursive Waves

ReAct has been made possible by an ERC Advanced Grant (2019-2024) awarded to Ann Rigney, Utrecht University, under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 788572).