From December 3rd to 5th, 2016, almost 200 memory scholars, as well as practitioners – such as memorial staff, artists, human rights activists, transitional justice lawyers – from many different countries came together in Amsterdam. Attendees included both junior and senior scholars from a broad range of disciplines, including experimental and social psychology, sociology, political science, history, art history, media studies, cultural studies, literary studies, anthropology and more. Also present were many leading figures in the field of memory studies, including Michael Rothberg (University of California), Astrid Erll (Universität Frankfurt am Main), Ann Rigney (Utrecht University), Daniel Levy (Stony Brook University), Jan Kubik (University College London), Erica Lehrer (Concordia University), William Hirst (New School), Siobhan Kattago (University of Tartu), Jeffrey Olick (University of Virginia), Wulf Kansteiner (Aarhus University), Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi (Hebrew University), among others. Hosted at De Nieuwe Liefde, the conference included three roundtables with well-known scholars, thirteen panels, as well as two professional development events. The conference was organized by Aline Sierp (Maastricht University) and Jenny Wüstenberg (York University, Toronto).

Based on the premise that Memory Studies is currently undergoing rapid expansion and is receiving growing recognition in academic and policy circles while the field’s expansion has not been matched by concomitant advances in theoretical groundwork, methodological sophistication and professional organization, a central goal of this conference was to focus on these concerns and to bring together people working in different fields to exchange their expertise and ideas. A second aim was to take first steps in setting up an international Memory Studies Association that will gather under its umbrella all the already existing smaller scholarly groups working on memory issues, as well as providing a home to research-oriented practitioners and policy-makers. The panels followed the format of five short presentations, each designed to stimulate discussion with the audience, for which plenty of time was allotted. Panel topics included: Memory and Theory, Memory and the Arts, Memory Going Nowhere?, Memory Concepts, Memory Regions, Memory as a Field, Combining Disciplines, Connecting Scholars and Practitioners, Euro-Centrism in Memory Studies, Methodology in Memory Studies, Memory and the Media, Places of Memory and Places of Amnesia.

Three Roundtables served as forums attended by all participants, during which many key questions were raised repeatedly, helping to stake out the most pressing issues facing the Memory Studies field. The Roundtable discussions, in general, revolved around the following questions: What can we do to develop memory studies as a field? How interdisciplinary can it be? How can memory scholars intervene in current politics, particularly in the light of the current rise of right-wing parties and movements, as well as populist forces, which instrumentalize memory in novel ways? How can memory scholars and practitioners interact in a more fruitful manner? In addition, much of the debate revolved around the planned foundation of a new Memory Studies Association: How can it best integrate practitioners and scholars from the Global South? How should its membership be structured? What should future conferences feature? What role should the Memory Studies Association play in academia, memory politics, and as a hub for exchange between those inside and outside of academia? (How) can it function as an advocate for its members, particularly those who are junior or from marginalized backgrounds?

The Roundtables were: “Moving Memory” focussing on conceptual issues and featuring MICHAEL ROTHBERG (University of California), ASTRID ERLL (Universität Frankfurt), ANN RIGNEY (Utrecht University) and DANIEL LEVY (Stony Brook University) moderated by ALINE SIERP(Maastricht University). The discussions during this roundtable were representative of the paradigmatic shift that the field of Memory Studies has undertaken in recent years: Memory discourses are considered as being able to travel and cross borders, and cannot be confined to national and cultural containers anymore. The Roundtables “Do Memory Scholars Matter in Memory Politics?” with JAN KUBIK (University College London), ERICA LEHRER (Concordia University) ROMA SENDYKA (Jagiellonian University), and ALINE SIERP (Maastricht University), moderated by CHRISTINA MORINA (Duitslandinstituut Amsterdam); and “Where is the Memory Field Going?” with WILLIAM HIRST (New School), SIOBHAN KATTAGO (University of Tartu), JEFFREY OLICK (University of Virginia) and WULF KANSTEINER (Aarhus University) moderated by JENNY WÜSTENBERG (York University, Toronto) engaged with the question how the agents of Memory Studies may intervene in contemporary memory-driven politics and discourses. Some scholars held the view that Memory Studies should become more visible in non-academic contexts. They believed that knowledge and theories which drive the field are essential to understanding many aspects and dynamics in contemporary politics. Furthermore, some leading figures emphasized that it is inevitable for Memory Studies to open up towards non-academic job markets and to promote the specific skills that a Memory scholar can bring along. These issues were controversially debated.1

In addition to formal events, there were many informal opportunities for networking among conference attendees: at the reception at the start of the conference, during breaks, at the thematic dinner groups that were initiated by the organizers but led by participants, at a post-conference lunch meeting, and the “Black Heritage” walking tour of Amsterdam. Breaking out of the traditional conference format and asking participants to present short provocative think pieces turned out to be very beneficial for stimulating discussions. Overall, the conference was notable for the spirit of cross-disciplinary exchange and the sense of being engaged in a foundational moment for the field of Memory Studies. The conference was accompanied by vibrant activity on Twitter and Facebook, suggesting a considerable effect beyond Amsterdam.

The conference was generously supported by the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity, the Universiteitsfonds Limburg, the Centre for European Research at Maastricht University, Maastricht University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the Access Europe project at Amsterdam University, the German Academic Exchange Service (supported by the German Foreign Office), the Council for European Studies, the Duitsland Instituut Amsterdam, the Institute for German Studies at Birmingham University, the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies, the Canadian Center for German and European Studies at York University in Toronto, and the Frankfurt Memory Studies Platform.

The next conference will take place in Copenhagen from 14-16 December 2017.2

Welcome address: Aline Sierp (Maastricht University) and Jenny Wüstenberg (York University)

Roundtable “Moving Memory”
with Astrid Erll (University of Frankfurt), Daniel Levy (Stony Brook University), Ann Rigney (Utrecht University), Michael Rothberg (University of California, Los Angeles)
Chair: Aline Sierp (Maastricht University)

Panel 1: Memory and Theory
Chair: Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Björn Thomassen (Roskilde University) & Rosario Forlenza (New York University)
Rethinking the theoretical foundations of memory though liminality
Slawomir Kapralski (Pedagogical University of Krakow)
Between Memory and Theory: Addressing Theoretical Deficits of Memory Studies
Gerd Sebald (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)
Enlarging the conceptual base of memory studies by redefining the concept of memory?
Vincent Druliolle (University Carlos III Madrid)
Beyond the objectification of memory: the implications of understanding memory as and essentially contested concept
Franziska Metzger (University of Teacher Education Lucerne)
Mythicisation as Mechanism of Memory Construction-Methodological and Conceptual Reflections

Panel 2: Memory and the Arts
Chair: Alison Ribeiro de Menezes (University of Warwick)

Cimen Günay-Erkol (Ozyegin University) & Ugur Caliskan (Bogazici University)
Turkey’s Military Periods and Literature as Memory Work
Efi Aharon
The newly born mother: Immigration and Imagination – Daughters of immigrant mothers invent maternal memories and create new identities
Eyal Boers (Tel-Aviv University & Ariel University)
Black Book: Dutch Prototype or Jewish Outsider. Films in the Service of Memory
Alison Atkinson-Phillips (University of Technology, Sydney)
The role of art and artists in memorials to lived experiences of loss
Noga Stiassny (University of Hamburg)
The Artscapes of the Holocaust

Panel 3: Memory Going Nowhere?
Chair: Anamaria Dutceac-Segesten (Lund University)

Felix Krawatzek (University of Oxford) & Rieke Trimcev (University of Greifswald)
Universalising a European Past? Things to do with Entangled Memory
Sara Jones (University of Birmingham)
(Why) is memory stuck? The National and Transnational in Memory Studies Theory
Joanne Sayner (University of Birmingham)
Travel Writing: Theory, Translation and Adaptation
Alex Brown (University of Birmingham)
Theory: The Memory of Ideology (and the Ideology of Memory)
Amy Sodaro (Borough of Manhattan Community College)
Memory’s Future?

Panel 4: Memory Concepts
Chair: Siobhan Kattago (University of Tartu)

Andrea Cossu (University of Trento)
Memory, Cultural Structures and Meaning Mechanism
Kári Driscoll & Susanne Knittel (Utrecht University)
Towards a Posthumanist Memory Studies
Jarula Wegner (University of Frankfurt)
Shifting Paradigms: from linguistic to performative turn
Rebekah Vince (University of Warwick)
Unsettling Memories: Trauma Moving Over Time
Rafał Riedel (University of Opole)
Authoritarian populism as a vehicle in memory manipulation

Panel 5: Memory Regions
Chair: Malgorzata Pakier (ENRS & POLIN Museum)

Joanna Wawrzyniak (University of Warsaw)
Conceptualising Memory Regions
Yifat Gutman (Ben-Gurion University)
Memory activism as a memory region: A comparative lens to the mobilization of contested pasts
Tea Sindbæk Andersen (University of Copenhagen)
Do we need a ‘tectonics’ of memory?
Paul Vickers (University of Giessen)
Memory Studies and Europe’s Epistemic Peripheries: Does the future lie in the archive
Emilia Salvanou (Hellenic Open University)
The "refugee crisis" as a new normality and its implications on memory studies. The case of Mediterranean refugees

Panel 6: Memory as a Field
Chair: Marek Kucia (Jagiellonian University Krakow)

Ferenc Laczo (Maastricht University)
After the Boom
Anamaria Dutceac-Segesten (Lund University)
Memory studies: The state of an emergent field
Ruramisai Charumbira (University of Texas)
Renaissance: The Dialectics of memory and Forgetting
Lea David (Tel Aviv University)
Mandating Memory in the Name of Human Rights
Christina Simko (Williams College)
Reflections from Across the Pond: Difficult Pasts in the United States and Europe

Roundtable “Do Memory Scholars matter in Memory Politics?”
with Jan Kubik (University College London), Erica Lehrer (Concordia University), Roma Sendyka (Jagiellonian University)
Chair: Christina Morina (Duitsland-Institut Amsterdam)

Panel 7: Combining Disciplines
Chair: Joanne Garde-Hansen (University of Warwick)

Ulla Savolainen (University of Helsinki)
Memory Studies, Folkloristics, Oral History Research: Thinking through Memory, Traditions and Memories
Angelika Bammer (Emory University)
Can We Talk? Neuroscientists and Humanists on memory
Pieter Vermeulen (University of Leuven)
Ecologies of Memory: On Data, Media, and other Environments
Barbara Törnquist Plewa (Lund University)
Memory Studies and Critical Heritage Studies - a happy marriage ?
Daphne Winland (York University)
Researching unspeakable pasts: lessons from ethnographic approaches

Panel 8: Connecting Scholars and Practitioners
Chair: Nicolas Moll (Independent Researcher and Intercultural Trainer, Sarajevo)

Kara Blackmore (Curator and PhD Candidate LSE)
Art and Exhibition Making as Method: An exploration into curatorial practice in post-conflict societies
Laura Boerhout (Educator, Curator and PhD Candidate University of Amsterdam)
Engaging with memory activism. Thoughts on positionality and commitment
Manca Bajec (Artist and PhD Candidate Royal College of Art)
Ethical considerations on artistic research in the field of Memory Studies
Esther Captain (Author and Head of Centre for Applied Research in Education Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences)
Navigating different fields of difference in- and outside academia. Challenges and opportunities
Wim Manuhutu (Curator, Heritage Professional and PhD Candidate Free University Amsterdam)
(Re-)presenting Maluku. Voices from a post-colonial community in the Netherlands

Panel 9: Are Memory Studies Euro-centric?
Chair: Ralph Sprenkels (Utrecht University)

Fabiola Arellano (Ludwig Maximilians Universität, Munich)
Illustrating Memories: Documentation of Survivors’ Testimonies in Post-conflict Peru
Mónika Contreras Saiz (Freie Universität, Berlin)
Soap Operas (telenovelas): Unofficial Vehicles of Memory in Latin America?
Hendrikje Grunow (Universität Konstanz)
Feeling the Past. De-Eurocentrering Historical Consciousness
Leonardo Moreira Pascuti (Katholische Universität Eichstätt, Ingolstadt)
Nunca Mais: The Holocaust Perception and the Post-Dictatorship Discourses in Brazil (1979-1985)
Lena Voigtländer (Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn)
Reflections of a Time Past - Photography and the Post-Generation in El Salvador

Professional Development Events

1: Career Café
Advice on the job market for memory scholars
with Jan Kubik (University College London), Jeffrey Olick (University of Virginia), Alison Ribeiro de Menezes (Warwick University), Barbara Törnquist-Plewa (Lund University), Roma Sendyk (Jagiellonian University), Ann Rigney (Utrecht University), and Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi (Hebrew University)

2: Teaching Workshop
Workshop on pedagogy in Memory Studies
with Jonathan Bach (New School) and Sara Jones (University of Birmingham)

Roundtable “Where is the memory field going?”
William Hirst (New School for Social Research), Wulf Kansteiner (Aarhus University), Siobhan Kattago (University of Tartu), Jeffrey Olick (University of Virginia)
Chair: Jenny Wüstenberg (York University, Toronto)

Panel 10: Methodology in Memory Studies
Chair: Ulla Savolainen (University of Helsinki)

Elizabeth Worden (American University)
Studying memory Practices: methods for Moving Beyond the Expected Past
Philipp Ebert (University of Cambridge)
Beyond Elite Discourse. Contemplations on how to incorporate the wider public’s views into the study of memory
Alma Jeftic (International University of Sarajevo)
Analysis of Narratives in memory Studies: Advantages and Disadvantages of Quantitative Approach
Catherine Guisan (University of Minnesota)
Setting the Record Straight: Whose Memory Should we Trust?
Vicky Karaiskou (Open University of Cyprus)
Implicit memory and priming effects: can we ignore them?

Panel 11: Memory and the Media
Chair: Codruta Pohrib (Maastricht University)

Joyce Van de Bildt (Tel Aviv University)
Online memory platforms and their role in the construction of collective memory
Dana Hakman (Amsterdam University College)
You press the button, the algorithm does the rest: new positions of photography as memory tool.
Steffi De Jong (University of Cologne)
Sound memory? Towards a sensory study of cultural memory
Farah Aboubakr (University of Edinburg)
Recreating and Mapping Palestinian Homeland through Storytelling in Performative Arts and Cinema
Christine Lohmeier (University of Bremen)
Family memory in times of deep mediatization

Panel 12: Places of Memory
Chair: Antony Kalashnikov (University of Oxford)

Peter Pirker (University of Vienna)
Mapping Urban Memorial Landscapes
Monika Palmberger (University of Vienna)
Remembering Across Borders
Tim Gruenewald (University of Hongkong)
Memory Spaces as Film
Konstantina Chrysostomou (Architect)
Negotiating Cultural Identities and memory in post-conflict space. The memorial landscapes of Nicosia
Carolyn Birdsall (University of Amsterdam) & Danielle Drozdzewsk (UNSW Australia)
Mobile Research: The Place of (Auto)Ethnography in Contemporary Memory Studies

Panel 13: Places of Amnesia
Chair: Sara Jones (University of Birmingham)

Gruia Badescu (University of Cambridge)
Urban Disruptions: Between Place-making and Places of Amnesia
Helen Roche (University of Cambridge)
“Places of Amnesia" and Postwar German Memory Culture
Philipp Ebert (University of Cambridge)
Forgetting and Political Legitimacy in Democratic Transition: The Case of 20th-Century Germany
Elena Zezlina (University of Cambridge)
The Placing of Amnesia on the Northeastern Border of Italy Post-1945
Brian Johnsrud (Stanford University)
New Methods for Discovering "the Reader" of Literary Texts - Involving Memory and the Past

Concluding Words

Memory Studies Association planning meeting

Black Heritage walking tour (optional)

Notes:
1 All three roundtables were recorded and can be watched on www.memorystudiesassociation.org (01.02.2017).
2 For further information and for impressions of the 2016 conference please visit: www.memorystudiesassociation.org (01.02.2017).