Understanding Europe: On Memory and Identity

Europe day! Europe day? What does it even mean? In this episode Brendan and Charelle talk about the significance of Europe Day and the difficulties of forming a Common European Identity. In doing so they are joined by Dr. Aline Sierp, an expert in memory studies, who outlines what studying memory entails and the difficulties that are faced when trying to create a common European memory, and in the process a common European Identity. So if this intrigues you, give it a listen!

Secondary Sources:

- Short explanations of key terms by leading memory scholars.

- Memory Studies Association

- The Memory Cloud

- Sierp, Aline (2023). Europeanising Memory: The European Union’s Politics of Memory. In Maria Mälksoo (Ed.) Handbook on the Politics of Memory. Edward Elgar Publishing

- Sierp, Aline (2020). EU Memory Politics and Europe’s Forgotten Colonial Past. Interventions, 22(6), 386-702

Films:

- Schindler’s List, 1993 by Stefen Spielberg

- Shoa, 1985, by Claude Lanzmann

- Waltz with Bashir, 2008, by Ari Folman

- The Act of Killing, 2012, by Joshua Oppenheimer