Negotiating Memories of Protest in Western Europe

Abstract

The nascent field of Memory Studies emerges from contemporary trends that include a shift from concern with historical knowledge of events to that of memory, from 'what we know' to 'how we remember it'; changes in generational memory; the rapid advance of technologies of memory; panics over declining powers of memory, which mirror our fascination with the possibilities of memory enhancement; and the development of trauma narratives in reshaping the past.These factors have contributed to an intensification of public discourses on our past over the last thirty years. Technological, political, interpersonal, social and cultural shifts affect what, how and why people and societies remember and forget. This groundbreaking series tackles questions such as: What is 'memory' under these conditions? What are its prospects, and also the prospects for its interdisciplinary and systematic study? What are the conceptual, theoretical and methodological tools for its investigation and illumination?

Political violence in far‐right memory: Fratelli d'Italia's remembrance of the Primavalle arson

“…This shift was made particularly visible in 2008, with the establishment of 9 May (the day Aldo Moro's body was found) as a date dedicated to the remembrance of the victims of political violence (Betta, 2009; Glynn, 2013). In a speech on 10 May 2008, the then President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano underlined the problematic nature of the national recollection of those years, which had hitherto centred less on the experience of the victims than on the direct experiences of ex‐terrorists (Betta, 2009; Cento Bull & Cooke, 2013; Glynn, 2013; Hajek, 2013).…”

“…The Piazza Fontana bombing emerged as a result of previous protest movements brought forth by younger generations in 1968, and the ‘hot autumn’ of 1969 (Bartali, 2007). Both Hajek (2013) and Bartali (2007) regard this convergence of student and worker causes as a key element in the process that encouraged the de‐stigmatisation of political violence in Italy.…”

Students unrest in Nigerian universities: Types, causes and administrative strategies to the challenges

“…The incidence of violent demonstration has become a common feature of higher education in both developed and underdeveloped societies but with devastating effects on education in the latter (Gideon, 2011;Hajek, 2013). Violent protests are traceable to the public sector universities while researches on student unrest in the private sector have been hitherto lacking in literature.…”

Challenging the meaning of the past from below: A typology for comparative research on memory activists

“…The term memory activism has been conceptually stretched to encompass a wide range of actors and instances of contention, from administrators and government officials, to historians, artists, and a variety of social movements (Dybris McQuaid and Gensburger, 2019;Hajek, 2013;Harris, 2006;Pettai, 2020;Rigney, 2018;Bukowiecki et al 2020;Whitlinger, 2019;Zamponi, 2018). A clear definition is therefore essential.…”