WORKSHOP | Notion and construction of victimhood in Central East and Southeast Europe (Feb 2023)

Within the CENTRAL project, in which the workshop organizers have been participating since 2016, they will organize an onsite academic workshop in humanities and social sciences, entitled “Notion and construction of victimhood in Central East and Southeast Europe,” taking place at the University of Vienna 8-11 February 2023.

The event – organized by dr. Jelena Dureinovic (Uni Wien) in cooperation with doc. Kateřina Králová (CUNI), doc. Ildikó Barna (ELTE), dr. Tomasz Rawski (Uni Warsaw) and Prof. Chris-tian Voss (HU) – will give the opportunity to present research of both senior and junior scholars, including Ph.D. students. The workshop is dedicated to the persistent conflict potential stemming from the notion of victimhood that is nurtured in national hegemonic narratives in many countries of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. This happens because different actors involved dis-courses regarding the events of troubled past create various memories depending on the roles (heroes, victims, survivors, bystanders and criminals) they are ascribed to or ascribe to them-selves, both consciously and unconsciously. Over time, such memories are transmitted intergen-erationally, creating the core of the communicative memory.

Although communicative memory is subjective, it plays an important role in memory structures, reinforced in family settings and in communities that share the same experience of national or ethno-confessional conflicts. While competing memories can have a negative impact and escalate conflicts, they can also channel public debate and urge reconciliation, an important step in addressing the consequences of atrocities and injustice.

 

Contact person:

Mag. Dr. Jelena Dureinovic, University of Vienna
jelena.dureinovic@univie.ac.at

CENTRAL partners:

Kateřina Králová, Doc. Ph., Charles University
kralova@fsv.cuni.cz

Prof. Dr. Christian Voss, Humboldt-University Berlin
christian.voss@hu-berlin.de

Ildikó Barna, PhD. Phil., Eötvös Loránd University
barna.ildiko@tatk.elte.hu

Assistant ProfessorTomasz Rawski, PhD., Warsaw University
t.rawski@is.uw.edu.pl

 

Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Vienna (Dr. Katharina Tyran)
Institute of Habsburg and Balkan Studies of the Austrian Academy and Sciences (Doz. Robert Pich-ler) & Institute of Culture Studies and Theatre History (Doz. Ljiljana Radonić), Austrian Academy of Science