Collective Memory

AbstractThis episode brings together a panel of scholars to explore the concept of collective memory and its deep connections to law, identity, and the dead. The episode unpacks the contours of collective memory, the idea of a "duty of memory"—a responsibility to remember and acknowledge past violence, injustice, or trauma, which plays a key role in shaping national identity and guiding public discourse - and the role of law in shaping those memories. Dr Fransiska Louwagie (University of Aberdeen), Dr Miroslaw Sadowski (University of Strathclyde), and Professor Zeray Yihdego (University of Aberdeen), and Dr Nevena Jevremović (University of Aberdeen) reflect on how memory, law, and power intersect: Who decides what gets remembered? What role do legal systems play in shaping memory and justice? And how can literature, art, and the humanities challenge dominant narratives?This wide-ranging and thought-provoking discussion invites listeners to reflect on how societies engage with the past and with the memory of those who are no longer with us.Death & Law - Interdisciplinary Explorations | School of Law | The University of Aberdeen BiographiesDr Miroslaw SadowskiDr Sadowski is Lecturer at the School of Law, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow since August 2023. Dr Sadowski is also Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Global Studies, Aberta University in Lisbon, Portugal; Postdoctoral Fellow at CEBRAP – Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning in São Paulo, Brazil; and Research Assistant at the Institute of Legal Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland. Dr Sadowski is a member of the British Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA), Canadian Law and Society Association (ACDS/CLSA), as well as the Richard Wagner Society of Wrocław, where Dr Sadowski serves as the Board Member responsible for International Relations, and CompaRes – International Society for Iberian-Slavonic Studies, where Dr Sadowski serves as Vice-President.Link to profile: https://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/sadowskimiroslawdr/Dr Fransiska LouwagieDr Fransiska Louwagie is a Senior Lecturer in French and Francophone studies at the University of Aberdeen School of Language, Literature, Music, and Visual Culture. Her research combines literary studies with a range of interdisciplinary perspectives. She has in particular worked on survivor narratives and the representation of the Holocaust in contemporary Francophone fiction and bande dessinée. Her research also focuses on issues of migration, bilingualism and translation. As part of her work, Dr Louwagie has undertaken various research collaborations in the field of drama and the visual arts, particularly graphic novels, post-Holocaust art and political cartooning.Link to profile: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/fransiska.louwagie/Professor Zeray YihdegoProfessor Yihdego joined Aberdeen Law School in January 2013. He held (2015/16) a Visiting Research Fellow position with the Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, University of Oxford and a Senior Visiting Member at Linacre College, University of Oxford. He has been researching and publishing on various aspects of public international law with emphasis on (conventional) arms control/trade, international humanitarian law, peace and security, democratic governance, development and human rights and the law of international watercourses issues relating to Africa. Professor Yihdego participates as a Principal Investigator in a 5.5 million Euro EU funded multidisciplinary research project concerning the governance of the Zambezi and Omo River basins (details here http://dafne-project.eu/) and collaborates on various projects with law experts, economists, hydrologists, environmental and political scientists and policy experts that are working in Africa, Europe and the US.Link to profile: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/zeray.yihdego/Additional resourcesHeritage and Memory Studies (PgCert), University of Aberdeen, Online Programme: https://on.abdn.ac.uk/degrees/heritage-and-memory-studies/ • Manuel Bragança and Fransiska Louwagie (eds), Ego-histories of France and the Second World War: Writing Vichy (Palgrave 2018)• Erin Jessee and David Mwambari, ‘Memory Law and the Duty to Remember the “1994 Genocide against the Tutsi” in Rwanda’ in Elazar Barkan and Ariella Lang (eds), Memory Laws and Historical Justice: The Politics of Criminalizing the Past (Palgrave Macmillan 2022) 291–319• Sébastien Ledoux, Le devoir de mémoire : une formule et son histoire (CNRS Éditions 2016)• Fransiska Louwagie, Témoignage et littérature d’après Auschwitz (Rodopi/Brill 2020)Fransiska Louwagie and Manuel Bragança (eds), The Future of World War Two France in Academia: Contemporary Research Paradigms, Intellectual Trajectories and Challenges (Palgrave, forthcoming)• Henry Rousso, ‘French Laws for a Better Past’ in Elazar Barkan and Ariella Lang (eds), Memory Laws and Historical Justice: The Politics of ...