Panel 1: Friday November 22, 2024 (15.00-17.00)
Panel 2: Friday February 14, 2025 (15.00-17.00)

A year on from the 2023 MSA roundtable that discussed the “activist turn” (Chidgey, 2023) in memory studies, how do we conceptualize the relationship between memory and activism? How has research into the formation and circulation of activist memories impacted our understanding of collective remembrance? And what new methods have emerged from the field’s attention to using memory in collective action and contentious politics? Building from existing work at this juncture (Reading and Katriel, 2015; Gutman, 2017; Zamponi, 2018; Rigney, 2018; Zamponi and Daphi, 2019; Fridman, 2022 to name a few), this callinvites new cases of, approaches within and challenges to the “memory-activism nexus” (Rigney, 2018).

Within the framework of the digital MSA, the Memory and Activism Working Group will organize two online panels with a broad geographic and temporal scope. The first, on November 22, 2024, centres around the memory of activism, inviting contributions that address the narratives, affects and media through which civil disobedience has been recalled. Submissions to this panel may wish to consider the following: What qualities make an activist or social movement ‘memorable’? What (narrative, visual, performance-based) forms lend themselves to the remembrance of activism? How are memories of activism affected by changing media ecologies? The second panel, on February 14, 2025, considers the role of memory in activism, including discussions of “memory activism” (Gutman and Wüstenberg, 2023).

Submissions are encouraged to address the following questions: How is the past mobilized by recent social movements? Through what media and with what emphases is one wave of protest remembered by another? How might memory be used to serve the political agendas of contemporary activists? Against a backdrop of growing international literature on the memory-activism nexus, this series gives voice to early career researchers conducting fundamental research on memory and activism in various contexts.

They will bring together voices from across disciplines to provide an overview of new debates in this subfield.

Submission guidelines
They are inviting abstracts of between 200 and 300 words for a 20-minute presentation. Please add 4 to 6 keywords, specify which panel you are applying for, and include a 100-word bio. Please submit your proposal to c.l.vlessing@uu.nl by September 1, 2024. Decisions will be communicated by October 1, 2024