Spaces of Remembering and Forgetting: An Interdisciplinary Conference

Chad McDonald Announcement
Location
United Kingdom
Subject Fields
Digital Humanities, Urban History / Studies, World History / Studies, Oral History, Graduate Studies

Postgraduate and Early Career Conference

Spaces of Remembering and Forgetting: An Interdisciplinary Conference

University of Bristol, Friday 12 May 2017

This one-day conference provides a space for an interdisciplinary analysis of themes related to spaces of remembering and forgetting for postgraduate and early career researchers.

The aim of this conference is to widen the traditional understanding of memory through exploration of literal and figurative spaces of remembering and forgetting. Held at the University of Bristol - in partnership with the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership - the conference will bring together scholars working in disciplines including History, English, Modern Languages, Performing Arts, Archaeology, Architecture and Geography, among others.

We welcome proposals for 20-minute papers (including multimedia presentations, performance and creative work), panels of up to four participants, or posters, from scholars across all disciplines. Interpretations of the theme might include:

  • Commemorative sites and practices (or lack thereof)

  • The body as a site of memory/forgetting

  • Space and trauma

  • Memory in artefacts (pre-modern to contemporary)

  • Remembering in digital spaces

  • The interview or text as a narrative space of memory

  • Gendered space and memory

Participants will benefit from an interactive roundtable on oral history and co-creation in the community. Prof. Josie McLellan, Prof. Tim Cole, Prof. John Foot and Dr Grace Huxford from the University of Bristol will discuss projects including the history of LGBT+ Bristol, an oral history of the University of Warwick since 1965, building communities in care homes through life histories, and the documentary Ringhiera: Story of a House.

A keynote lecture on memory will be given by Dr Juliette Pattinson, Reader and Head of the School of History at the University of Kent. Dr Pattinson is currently writing a book on men in reserved occupations in WWII, and sits on the editorial board for Women’s History Review.

A lunchtime poster session will be an opportunity for researchers wishing to present their work in a more informal and interactive setting. There will also be a film screening relating to memory to be held in Bristol on the evening of Thursday 11 May.

If you wish to be considered for a paper or poster, please submit an abstract of no more than 250 words (100 for posters) and a short biography of up to 50 words by 15 January 2017 to: memorystudiessw@gmail.com

In the spirit of collaboration, we particularly welcome panel proposals. We hope participants will work with 3-4 colleagues to form panels with a clear, overarching theme. Applicants are invited to submit a single proposal including an abstract for each paper, a title for the panel, a brief overview of its core themes, and a short bio of up to 50 words for each speaker to the email address above.

The conference is generously supported by the SWWDTP Cohort Development Fund. Spaces of Remembering and Forgetting is organised by the SWW DTP Memory Studies Cluster.  

We are on Twitter! @MemoryStudiesSW

Contact Information

Amy King and Chad McDonald

Co-Directors of the Memory Studies Research Cluster

Contact Email
memorystudiessw@gmail.com