Call for Papers

A special issues of Patterns of Prejudice edited by Dan Stone will focus on the 'refugee crisis' and European collective memory.

Echoes of the Past will investigate the link between the ‘refugee crisis’ and European collective memory. Although the Holocaust has been appealed to in the public discussion on many occasions, papers need not focus exclusively on the experience of the Jews. The experiences of many refugee groups have contributed to the make-up of Europe’s current population and have given rise to different forms of collective memory: official (the level of the state), NGOs, political, religious and social movements, grassroots organizations, campaigning groups and so on. What accounts for the often glaring contrast between state-authorized ‘proud histories’ of helping refugees that stress openness and fairness, and the accounts of historians—and refugees themselves—that paint reality in shades of grey? How have the histories of different refugee movements since the Second World War contributed to the creation—and contestation of—European collective memory?

Topics on which proposals might focus include:

• Links between pre-Second World War debates about refugees between states, among politicians and in the press, and similar debates today.
• Debates about the admission of refugees before and after the Second World War and how they compare—or have shaped—today’s similar debates.
• Analyses of how refugees themselves made sense of their experiences, from giving thanks to the countries that offered them refuge, to using their experiences to criticize racism and other forms of prejudice later on in their lives.
• Theoretical discussions of the creation and contestation of collective memory, including far-right narratives of Europeanness and their impact on the public sphere.

For full details, see the attached call for papers.

Transnational and/or comparative approaches are especially welcome, although country-specific studies will also be considered. Proposals (no more than 1 page) should be submitted to Prof. Dan Stone (d [dott] stone[at] rhul [dott] ac [dott] uk) by 15 June 2016.