Children of Empires and European Postmemories

Project Information

MEMOIRS

Grant agreement ID: 648624

DOI

10.3030/648624

Project closed

EC signature date 7 August 2015

Start date 1 November 2015

End date 31 October 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 1 982 475,00

EU contribution

€ 1 982 475,00

Coordinated by

CENTRO DE ESTUDOS SOCIAIS
Portugal

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - MEMOIRS (Children of Empires and European Postmemories)

Reporting period: 2020-05-01 to 2021-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Contemporary European societies are shaped by their colonial heritage and the migratory waves. The end of the colonial empires triggered important population flows that brought large numbers of both the former colonised and colonisers to Europe, a process often marked by ambiguities, fractures, and violence. MEMOIRS studied the intergenerational memories of the children and grandchildren of those who lived through the dying days of colonialism, the struggles for independence and the decolonization of the following former colonies of Belgium, France and Portugal: Democratic Republic of Congo (RDC), Algeria, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It was a project on the diversity of Europe and its main objective was to understand the challenges of living in the XXI century post-colonial Europe.

The innovative character of the project arises from its research questions, never asked on a European scale:
-How does the transferred intergenerational memory of the process of European colonialism and decolonization manifest itself socially and culturally in France, Belgium and Portugal?
-What is the impact of that latent memory on modern-day Europe?

MEMOIRS draws a comprehensive answer to its research questions through the analysis of 160 interviews with second and third-generation descendants of former colonizers, former colonized and colonial-war veterans living in France, Belgium and Portugal, and through a review and analysis of their cultural and artistic contribution in five areas: visual arts, literature, performative arts, cinema and music. The analysis of those various texts and contexts of production points to a relationship with the colonial past mediated by both historical and political knowledge and a strong subjective investment manifest in family narratives in which the imagination of a non-experienced past becomes the privileged ground for identity construction and intercultural role-playing both within Europe and on the North-South axis. MEMOIRS interrogates Europe's postcolonial heritage by offering new insights into the European postcolonial collective memory and history, which is apparently a common history but one that generates very different memories. Issues such as citizenship, belonging, inheritance, identity, racism but also reparation, restitution and denunciation are addressed, generating a new intergenerational dialectic that refuses the pursuit of retraumatisation, while rejecting the logics of forgetfulness. This resignification of the colonial past contributes to a rethinking of a transnational colonial heritage as part of European identity and not as something external or carefully hidden away, or not accepted as a constitutive aspect. This implies a fundamental disruption of historical and narrative paradigms. By reconceptualizing what is at the heart of European identity, MEMOIRS mapped out a new cartography of memory, accepting as a constitutive part of Europe, the memories of those whom colonialism deemed to be other and contribute to a greater sense of responsibility toward the past, one capable of overcoming contemporary social deadlocks and laying the conditions of more inclusive future.

http://memoirs.ces.uc.pt
www.facebook.com/memoirs.ces/

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The outputs of MEMOIRS used different formats to achieve wider dissemination and reach a diverse audience, with an impact beyond the academy: 185 participations in academic and cultural events; academic publications in several formats and languages (9 books, 1 exhibition catalogue, 49 chapters, 36 journal articles; 3 co-edited special issue of scientific journal, and during 2022 it is expected that 6 more books will be launched); a weekly newsletter MEMOIRS along 3 years (148 newsletters); 2 newspaper special issues with a reference nation-wide Portuguese newspaper, Público; an intense presence on media in Portugal and France; an inter-artistic database – Artists and works in times of European post-memory – on the French, Belgian and Portuguese artistic postmemories production on visual arts, literature, performative arts, cinema and music with 400 artists and 1200 works, available in Portuguese, French and English; a final international colloquium with academics, artists, journalists, programmers, curator and directors of European museums at Culturgest, Lisbon; and a visual art exhibition – Europa Oxalá - in the three countries under study by MEMOIRS. Europa Oxalá presents artworks reflecting on colonial heritage by 21 artists and a series of debates and cultural programmes energize thinking about the Europe that is now being built. A catalogue and a book of essays are available in Portuguese, English, French and Dutch. Europa Oxalá is the result of intense partnership, debate and negotiation with museums, foundations, artists, and academics over 3 years. All scientific approach and publications are supervised by the PI and by the principal curator Pinto Ribeiro, from the MEMOIRS team. The exhibition takes place from 2021 to 2023, in France (Mucem, Marseille, October to January 16, 2022), Portugal (Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, March to August, 2022) and Belgium (Africa Museum, Tervuren, Brussels, October to March, 2023).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

MEMOIRS is the first study that compares the personal and artistic narratives of 2nd and 3rd generation in Europe on the end of Belgian, French and Portuguese empires. In addition to individual interviews, MEMOIRS collected and treated 2nd and 3rd generation artistic production on the topic. The fact that the project is carried out in three European countries, in five different artistic areas gives MEMOIRS the opportunity to draw a new cartography of art on MEMOIRS themes in Europe in a specialized (country/area), comprehensive (all areas in one country) and comparative (by area/3 countries, in all areas in the 3 European countries) way. This research design generates a new, unique and pioneering approach and knowledge.

The political events and cultural discussions of the last years and fieldwork - with academic communities and artists who are sensitive to these themes - showed the relevance of MEMOIRS knowledge as an important tool to promote informed and democratic participation. During fieldwork and in MEMOIRS dissemination events, researchers receive the unequivocal feedback from participants that this is the first time they are being challenged as “Children of Empires”. Whereas their older relatives used to be called in to give their testimony, now MEMOIRS challenges the descendants to think about the colonial heritage in postcolonial times. In this process, we have become aware that the interviews we carry out are not just occasions of data collection for a project. They are instances of historical awareness of the interviewees as European social and political subjects and if and how their representative family history is integrated into the history of their country and Europe. For the artists these interviews are also moments of critical reflection, sharing and creation. From these works new perspectives are made on the significance of colonial encounters for the framing of postcolonial Europe's self-awareness arise in a shared and participatory way.

MEMOIRS Final Conference, Culturgest, Lisbon, 4 Nov 2021

MEMOIRS Europa OXALA, Marseille, MUCEM, Oct 2021

LilianThuram_Coimbra_October2019

MEMOIRS Europa OXALA, Lisbon, Gulbenkian Foundation, march 3 2022

MEMOIRS, Oct 3 2021, Pitcho Performance

MEMOIRS Final Conference, Culturgest, Lisbon, 4 Nov 2021

MEMOIRS Arts in times of Postmemory, Oct 3 2021, Culturgest, Lisbon

MEMOIRS Final Conference, Culturgest, Lisbon, 4 Nov 2021

MEMOIRS Europa OXALA, Lisbon, Gulbenkian Foundation, march 3 2022

MEMOIRS Europa OXALA, Lisbon, Gulbenkian Foundation, march 3 2022

LilianThuram_Coimbra_October2019

MEMOIRS, Oct 3 2021, Pitcho Interview

MEMOIRS Books, out in 2021-22

MEMOIRS Europa OXALA, Marseille, MUCEM, Oct 2021

MEMOIRS Europa OXALA, Marseille, MUCEM, Oct 2021