Proposed topics

1. War, Memory, and Identity

  • Armed conflicts in the memory of the victors, the defeated, and the neutral
  • The evolution of war memory
  • Reflections on war, memory, and identity
  • The social construction of war memory: living memory vs. official memory
  • Transgenerational memory: passing down war experiences between generations
  • Memory of war conflicts as a tool of propaganda
  • Memory conflict: differing narratives of various social and political groups about the same war
  • Combatants in the memory of descendants
  • Forgotten histories

2. Historical Sources and Their Interpretation

  • Sources (not only) historical as carriers of memory for research on armed conflicts
  • Known sources – new interpretations
  • War in ego-documents
  • Archiving war: from parchment documents to 3D technologies
  • Traces of armed conflicts in archaeological material
  • Mass graves and their study

3. Politics of Memory and Memorialization Mechanisms

  • Mechanisms of memorialising armed conflicts in different countries and eras
  • Politics of memory vs. historical narratives: shaping and using war memory
  • Memory conflicts: international disputes over war memorialisation
  • The role of international institutions in shaping war memory (e.g., UNESCO, UN)
  • Processes of forgiveness and reconciliation after armed conflicts

4. Sites of Memory and Their Functions

  • Sites of memory – museums, monuments, cemeteries
  • Architecture – a witness to history
  • Monuments and sites of memory as expressions of social and political interpretations of war
  • Museum as a space of war memory
  • Museums – the boundary between memorialisation and glorification of war

5. War in Culture and Art

  • Strategies for shaping and using war memory in art
  • War as a theme in literature, art, and film
  • Destruction of architectural and artistic works due to war actions
  • Historical reconstruction as a form of historical memory
  • War legends and myths
  • War in anecdotes

6. Regional and Contemporary Contexts of Memory

  • The war in Ukraine and its impact on historical memory in Europe
  • War memory in different cultures
  • Hybrid conflicts and their documentation for future generations
  • Contemporary challenges in preserving war memory in the age of disinformation

We also accept proposals for papers on topics beyond those suggested above.