Heritage of the First World War: Representations and Reinterpretations
(International Conference)

Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 5-8 October 2016

Conference synopsis

This conference seeks to fill the gaps in memory studies and open up a range of questions relating to the heritage of the war in the former Yugoslavia. In particular, the conference intends to discuss WWI as an ongoing, meta-cultural process through which different social actors continually redefine the legacy of the war as a means of forming a collective identity in the present, reinterpret mutual relations and develop specific representations. The conference aims to highlight the political demands on memory of WWI. It will discuss historical as well as contemporary forms of WWI memory, the relations between them and the genealogy of memories, through observation of the reshaping of memory landscapes from the time of the war until present day.

Call for papers

We welcome papers from different disciplines and perspectives, with a focus on heritage reinterpretation of WWI in the area of former Yugoslavia. We particularly encourage proposals which reflect on:
– the temporal dynamics of the creation, disintegration and promotion of monuments of WWI and their various historical interpretations,
– the commemoration and ritual practices connected to historical personalities of WWI and their re-imagining in public discourses,
– the production of wartime memory though landscape that commemorates WWI,
– the changing role of WWI in the tourism economy and in national heritage,
– the Europeanisation of WWI heritage,
– popular culture interpretations and artistic representations of WWI,
– digital collections and WWI photography.

Abstracts of 300-500 words, together with an accompanying short biographical note should be submitted to the organising committee ( ww1heritage@gmail.com) by 31 March 2016. Please send your contact details (full name, e-mail, post address and affiliation). Acceptance of proposals will be notified by 7 May 2016.