ICSM Online Journal > Listings

Trajectories of Memory: Intergenerational Representations of the Holocaust in History and the Arts
posted 11 Nov 2005

Interdisciplinary Conference on the Holocaust
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green , Ohio / Usa
23–26 March 2006

Call for Papers: Proposal Deadline: 15 October 2005

We invite scholars across academic disciplines (history, literature, musicology, visual and musical arts, political science, religious studies, philosophy, psychology and sociology) to present new research on explorations of the effect of the Holocaust on the present and on the ways in which the present understands, defines and/or represents that past.

Possible questions to consider would include:
the evolution of the Holocaust as discourse;
how does one negotiate the language of the Holocaust as survivors die, leaving future generations responsible for the vocalization of their memories;
what are the limits of acceptable discourse when discussing the Shoah?
How do survivors of perpetrators and bystanders navigate through feelings of guilt and responsibility?
How do survivors talk to each other and how do they talk to their children?

Keynote speakers:

Marianne Hirsch (Comparative Literature, Columbia University )
Leo Spitzer (History, Columbia University )
Atina Grossmann (History, Cooper Union , New York University)

Sample topics:

• Memory as both a cultural and an individual phenomenon
• Generational memory: the relationship of intergenerational memories mediated through recollection (on the part of witnesses) and mediated through ‘imaginative investment and creativity’ (M. Hirsch)
• Memory in public culture, i.e., memorials
• National memory
• Memory and witness testimony
• Postmemory and modes of representation
• Ways in which modes of visual, literary, musical and historical representation shape private and public memory
• Representation of the Holocaust as an effect of the repetition or proliferation of texts, images, iconic figures
• Gender and the construction of memory
• Memory and the discourse of authenticity in Holocaust studies

Please send abstracts of individual papers (1–2 pages) and/or complete panel proposals (with 3 presenters and a commentator) by 15 October 2005 to the following individuals:

For History: For German Literature and Film:
Beth Griech-Polelle Christina Guenther
bgriech[at] bgnet.bgsu.edu
cguenth[at] bgnet.bgsu.edu

For Theater: For English Literature and Film:
John Sebestyen Ramona Dunckel
johnsebestyen[at] hotmail.com
mdunk527[at] yahoo.com

For Music (including musicology): For Grad and Undergrad Student Sessions:
Marilyn Shrude and Mary Natvig
jonklei[at] bgnet.bgsu.edu
mshrude[at] bgnet.bgsu.edu
blanken[at] email.unc.edu
mnatvig[at] bgnet.bgsu.edu

For all other topics and additional information:
Beth Griech-Polelle and Christina Guenther
bgriech[at] bgnet.bgsu.edu
cguenth[at] bgnet.bgsu.edu

back to top