In recent years it has become more and more clear how difficult it is for a country to deal with its colonial past. The (silent) witnesses of that past can still be found in many places and in many forms: street names, monuments, museums or memorials for historical figures. While we might stumble upon this memory of the colonial past in our urban space and react surprised, it also lives on in our collective memory and subconsciousness.
In the case of Belgium, these lieux de memoire have been a topic of discussion in the past years. Memorial sites that are being criticised, monuments that are smeared, statues that are damaged, etc. This is symptomatic for the ongoing debate on the removal of such contested statues and the renaming of street names with a colonial background. Next to that, the museums seem to have to find new ways to bring the colonial story to the public. All this shows that there is no uniform remembrance culture about that past and that it even divides people. The time of silence or nostalgia seems to have passed. A new narrative has to be sought since memory and commemoration can no longer go in the same way as before.
In our workshop we investigate the many aspects of memory and commemoration. We ask you to present a case from your country/city, or according to your interest, on this theme. The following questions can help you prepare your presentation: Do these places of remembrance refer to heroes from a glorious past, or are they iconic images that hold the memory of the blackest pages in history? What story do such monuments tell about the colonies? What is not being told? Who tells the story and why? How does the past occupy public space? How do people react to it? How should a country deal with its colonial history? How does the memory live on with the people?
This workshop will consist of two parts. First, each participant will present their case study, after which a discussion will be started in order to compare given case studies and frame them within the methodology of the memory studies. Together we will look for similarities, parallels or major differences in the perception of the colonial story, and try to explain them. Secondly, we will work interdisciplinary, where both insights and methodological frameworks will be provided Prof. Bevernage. The workshop leaders will try to come up with innovative views from the academic side as well as from disciplines like media, heritage and cultural policies. Finally we will work together to find an answer on how remembrance and commemoration can be improved, regarding the colonial past.
The goal is to approach the subject-matter differently than how it is normally done, namely, contextualising the dominant discourses and deconstructing the colonial story according to it. We would like to emphasize on the critical potential of other discourses, such as anti-colonial/imperialistic/post-modern remembering. What are the limits and dangers in how people remember? How to people appropriate discourses and distribute them? These are fields that have not been extracted as much as by classical approaches, therefore it would be interesting to re-do the thinking exercise and research its possibilities within the framework of this workshop.
In the case of Belgium, these lieux de memoire have been a topic of discussion in the past years. Memorial sites that are being criticised, monuments that are smeared, statues that are damaged, etc. This is symptomatic for the ongoing debate on the removal of such contested statues and the renaming of street names with a colonial background. Next to that, the museums seem to have to find new ways to bring the colonial story to the public. All this shows that there is no uniform remembrance culture about that past and that it even divides people. The time of silence or nostalgia seems to have passed. A new narrative has to be sought since memory and commemoration can no longer go in the same way as before.
In our workshop we investigate the many aspects of memory and commemoration. We ask you to present a case from your country/city, or according to your interest, on this theme. The following questions can help you prepare your presentation: Do these places of remembrance refer to heroes from a glorious past, or are they iconic images that hold the memory of the blackest pages in history? What story do such monuments tell about the colonies? What is not being told? Who tells the story and why? How does the past occupy public space? How do people react to it? How should a country deal with its colonial history? How does the memory live on with the people?
This workshop will consist of two parts. First, each participant will present their case study, after which a discussion will be started in order to compare given case studies and frame them within the methodology of the memory studies. Together we will look for similarities, parallels or major differences in the perception of the colonial story, and try to explain them. Secondly, we will work interdisciplinary, where both insights and methodological frameworks will be provided Prof. Bevernage. The workshop leaders will try to come up with innovative views from the academic side as well as from disciplines like media, heritage and cultural policies. Finally we will work together to find an answer on how remembrance and commemoration can be improved, regarding the colonial past.
The goal is to approach the subject-matter differently than how it is normally done, namely, contextualising the dominant discourses and deconstructing the colonial story according to it. We would like to emphasize on the critical potential of other discourses, such as anti-colonial/imperialistic/post-modern remembering. What are the limits and dangers in how people remember? How to people appropriate discourses and distribute them? These are fields that have not been extracted as much as by classical approaches, therefore it would be interesting to re-do the thinking exercise and research its possibilities within the framework of this workshop.
Prof. Berber Bevernage is an associate professor of historical theory at the Department of History at Ghent University. His research focuses on the dissemination, attestation and contestation of historical discourse and historical culture in post-conflict situations. Next to that, he is also (co-) founder of the interdisciplinary research forum 'TAPAS/Thinking About the PASt' which focuses on popular, academic and artistic dealings with the past in a large variety of different cultural and social areas. Together with colleagues he established the International Network for Theory of History which aims to foster collaboration and the exchange of ideas among theorists of history around the world. He will combine the theoretical and post-conflict aspects of our workshops topic, and point out the importance of narratives within the colonial past.
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Nas De Spiegeleer is no stranger to many of you. He already tasted the ISHA-experience when he participated in the New Year's Seminary 2018 in Zagreb and he also functioned as workshop leader during Isha Ghent’s seminar on the commemoration of the First World War in 2018. Nas is currently doing his thesis on the memory and commemoration of the Zottegems Resistance after the Second World War. Next to that he is enrolling in a second master in Conflict and Development. Which makes him both familiar with the methods of oral history and memory studies, and the contentious nature of topics such as colonial past.
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Eline Mestdagh is a historian and PhD researcher at the Department of History at Ghent University. Among her interests are the recent manifestations of memory activism in the Netherlands and in Belgium. In her Master thesis (2017), she investigated the uses of the past in the activism of Kick Out Zwarte Piet, a network of activists that mobilizes against the stereotypical figure of Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) in the Netherlands. Next to that her current research deals with ongoing memory conflicts on the public (re)presentation of the Belgian colonial past, where she is specifically interested in the argumentative role of historical cultures and their underlying assumptions about time, historiography and the proper way to ‘deal with the past’. She is also a coördinating member of the interdisciplinary research forum TAPAS/Thinking About the PASt and a member of the International Network for the Theory of History (INTH). Her insights on conflicting historical cultures in the postcolonial debate will prove highly useful in our workshop
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WORKSHOP IMAGE