CfP: The International Politics of Memory

EISA Pan-European Conference on International Relations

16–19 September 2020

University of Malta

Section 37: The International Politics of Memory

Section Chairs: Lina Klymenko (Tampere University) and Karl Gustafsson (Stockholm University)

Over the past decades, issues related to how societies relate to the past have been the subject of astounding academic interest. Traditionally, collective memory, remembrance, trauma and heritage have been studied extensively in Sociology, History, Nationalism Studies, and Cultural Studies. The investigation of the connection between memory practices, historical discourses and interstate relations has recently also received attention in Foreign Policy Analysis, International Relations, and Security Studies. Although research on the use of (historical) memory in international politics is on the rise, the link between remembrance practices, discursive construction of history and interstate relations is still undertheorized.

We anticipate that the papers presented within this section will advance this field of study by drawing on the interdisciplinary analysis of the concepts presented below. The goal of the section is to discuss the advantages and shortcomings of the relevant scholarly literature on memory and international politics, and to engage with the topic both theoretically and empirically. The section seeks to facilitate dialogue between scholars who study the international politics of the past, but who use in their studies different theoretical approaches and concepts, for example historical narrative, collective memory, remembrance, trauma, forgetting, or heritage. The section does not seek to privilege any of these concepts. It strives to be open to new conceptual, theoretical and methodological approaches.

Abstracts are to be submitted at https://eisa-net.org/pec-2020-abstract-submission-guidelines by 16 March 2020.