The year 2018 leads our memories to two dates, 1918 and 1968. Each marks a development in the European process, and thereby each constitutes a reference point from which Europe traces back its historical legacy and political legitimacy and starting from which it imagines its futures.

Yet the two dates imply two different Europes, i.e., a Europe of national states or a Europe of democratic integration, one apparently conflicting or even incompatible with the other. Ironically, in the year 2018 marking both of these anniversaries, we can see both these Europes undergoing a deep crisis in what concerns respective legacies from the past.

This conference seeks to address these two mutually contradicting and sometimes paradoxically coexisting forms of legacy. We also invite a discussion about the complicated dynamic in the relation between them from the point of view of their power to provide legitimation for political decisions, for social and cultural engagement, and for the projects of the future.

In doing so, the conference also hopes to clarify the idea of legacy as a specific mode of receiving the past and to approach the problem in a critical perspective with a view to other forms of legitimation in the reception of the past, such as cultural heritage and/or collective memory.

Because of its power to legitimize, legacy becomes a matter of justice and therefore in many respects determines the politics and ethics of the present day. At the same time, the legacy from the past generations is a heavy burden on the shoulders of the next ones that is never something given but invariably a challenge.

CfP deadline: 1 August 2018