Bücher der Reihe Worlds of Memory

This innovative study develops the concept of "retro" to describe the nuanced and ironic depiction of the past as seen in Czech popular culture.

In the wake of recent protests against police violence and racism, calls to dismantle problematic memorials have reverberated around the globe. This is not a new phenomenon, however, nor is it limited to the Western world. De-Commemoration focuses on the concept of de-commemoration as it relates to remembrance. Drawing on research from experts on memory dynamics across various disciplines, this extensive collection seeks to make sense of the current state of de-commemoration as it transforms contemporary societies around the world.

In Poland, contemporary political actors have constructed a narrative of Polish history since 1989 in which Polish and Jewish involvement with communism has created a national concept of "we." Weaponizing the Past explores the resulting implications of national belonging through a lens of collective memory. Taking a constructivist approach to electoral politics and nation making in Poland's past, this volume's dual line of inquiry articulates why and how elites politicize the past, what effect this politicization produces, and contextualizes this politicization to illustrate contemporary production of anti-Semitism.

Focusing on the memory of the German Democratic Republic, Towards a Collaborative Memory explores the cross-border collaborations of three German institutions. Using an innovative theoretical and methodological framework, drawing on relational sociology, network analysis and narrative, the study highlights the epistemic coloniality that has underpinned global partnerships across European actors and institutions. Sara Jones reconceptualizes transnational memory towards an approach that is collaborative not only in its practices, but also in its ethics, and shows how these institutions position themselves within dominant relationship cultures reflected between East and West, and North and South.

Situated on Europe's northern periphery, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden found themselves caught between warring powers during World War II. Ultimately, these nations survived the conflict as sovereign states whose wartime experiences have profoundly shaped their historiography, literature, cinema and memory cultures. Nordic War Stories explores the commonalities and divergences among the five Nordic countries, examining national historiographies alongside representations of the war years in canonical literary works, travel writing, and film media. Together, they comprise a valuable companion that challenges the myth of Scandinavian homogeneity while demonstrating the powerful influence that the war continues to exert on national identities.

Transitional justice and national inquiries may be the most established means for coming to terms with traumatic legacies, but it is in the more subtle social and cultural processes of "e;memory work"e; that the pitfalls and promises of reconciliation are laid bare. This book analyzes, within the realms of literature and film, recent Australian and Canadian attempts to reconcile with Indigenous populations in the wake of forced child removal. As Hanna Teichler demonstrates, their systematic emphasis on the subjectivity of the victim is problematic, reproducing simplistic narratives and identities defined by victimization. Such fictions of reconciliation venture beyond simplistic narratives and identities defined by victimization, offering new opportunities for confronting painful histories.

Organized around Argentine "memory wars" since the 1970s, The Struggle for the Past undertakes an innovative exploration of memory's dynamic social character. It also gives an illuminating account of the emergence and development of Memory Studies as a field.

During five years of field research in Italy and the Netherlands, the "Bodies Across Borders: Oral and Visual Memory in Europe and Beyond" (BABE) team examined the connection between mobility and memory in Europe.

What do ordinary Germans think of their country's Nazi past? Do young Germans just want to "move on?" Combining observation, interviews, and archival work, the studies conducted in this book explore these questions to reveal the complexity of history and how young Germans view Nazism's place in contemporary society.

This volume brings together theoretical and practical considerations to provide transnational memory scholars with an interdisciplinary investigation into agency-the "who" and the "how" of cross-border commemoration that motivates activists and fascinates observers.

Resettlers and Survivors focuses on two groups of Bukovinians-ethnic Germans and German-speaking Jews-who navigated dramatically changed political and social circumstances in 1945. This study gives a nuanced account of how they dealt with the difficult legacies of World War II.