Summer School - Transitional Justice & Memory Politics
ABOUT
The Cres Summer School was launched in 2013 as a collaboration between the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and the University of Rijeka in Croatia to offer students an excellent opportunity to learn about how societies deal and overcome war crimes and human rights violations during conflicts and under authoritarian regimes.
Over the years, collaboration has expanded and now includes Pomona College, Montclair State University, Sewanee and New York University in the United States. Now the program has the pleasure of welcoming annually dynamic, new groups of students and practitioners for a 10-day summer program on transitional justice and the politics of memory on the beautiful island of Cres along the Adriatic coast.
The program includes lectures, seminars, workshops and excursions with a high-caliber faculty and guest lecturers, including scholars, practitioners and activists.
PROGRAM
The Summer School offers a variety of lectures on current transitional justice issues, including the following themes:
- Democratic Transitions, Human Rights, and the Role of External Actors
Although the Cres Summer School program provides a comparative analysis of transitional justice initiatives and methodologies from around the world, the hosting of the school in Croatia provides a unique opportunity to learn about the history of the Rijeka, the Kvarner islands, and the broader history of the former Yugoslavia. The lecture focuses on political myths, representations of the past, and the memoryscape of the region to set the context for the complex historical background of the events in the 1990s that led to the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The lecture will be complemented by walking tours of Cres town and the city of Rijeka, as well as references to cultural history (visual arts, films, cultural heritage, music, food) throughout the duration of the summer school.
- Justice and Accountability
This lecture introduces key concepts related to memory studies, with a focus on monuments, public spaces, commemorative practices and other political rituals, and institutional memorialization (museums, archives, educational policies, etc.). Students will be given an overview of collective remembrance theories, which will be illustrated through a number of case studies from the former Yugoslavia, other European countries, and the United States. The lecture and case studies will reflect the most recent global events relevant to memory politics, and students will be encouraged to contribute examples from their own experiences with representations of the past or institutionalized historical narratives. The lecture will include a comparison of both top-down and bottom-up processes, as well as a discussion about the role of mnemonic actors and the media in constructing a society’s collective memory. Students will also have a chance to learn about some of the newest methodologies in analyzing the politics of memory, including digital humanities tools developed in the FRAMNAT project at the University of Rijeka.
- Politics of Cultural Memory
Building upon the theories and case studies outlined in the first lecture on memory politics, this lecture illustrates how memory studies can applied to Transitional Justice initiatives, both for research purposes as well as suggestions for practitioners. The lecture will address issues such as inclusive commemorative practices in post-war societies, the role of symbolic reparations, the challenges of historical revisionism, and the role of war crimes trials in constructing narratives of the past. Students will also have the opportunity to do group work in devising post-conflict strategies of symbolic reparations, drawing upon the theories and case studies covered in the earlier lectures.
- Social Movements, Arts and Youth in Transitions
This lecture discusses the challenges of establishing a collective memory for gay victims of the Nazi terror in World War II and examines formidable social tensions in memorialization and identity-building processes. It raises important questions, including why a public voice for crimes against sexual minorities in World War II emerged only hesitantly? Drawing on historical LGBT memorialization processes in Germany and beyond, Dr. Kurze argues that behind a seemingly unified push for recognition, internal cleavages within the LGBT community provoked tension and created a politicized memory of the past.
- Conflict, Migration and Identity Politics
The Syrian civil war that broke out after peaceful protest during the Arab Spring has fueled a global refugee crisis that has challenged not only political institutions in European Union member states but also sparked public debates on questions about identity, nationhood and cultural integration in developed countries worldwide. The different issues in this theme are examined through a variety of analytical perspectives, including advocacy, ethnography, history, law, political science and sociology to critically reflect on this pressing international phenomenon.
APPLICATION
The total fee, including tuition and ten nights accommodation in a seaside hostel, for this summer school is €800. Please download and fill in application form in the pdf file and email it to info@summerschoolcres.org.
For more information click "LINK TO ORIGINAL" below.