Founded in 2016 in Amsterdam, the Memory Studies Association (MSA) aims to provide a central forum for developing, discussing, and exchanging ideas about the theory and methodology of the broad-ranging field of memory studies.  The MSA welcomes all students, scholars, and practitioners interested in memory in both the public and private realms, no matter their home discipline, to come together to help advance the field and exchange work and ideas.

Though we welcome contributions from across the field, a starting point of our discussions during our next annual conference in Madrid (25-28 June 2019) is to further connect various regional traditions in memory studies around the world. One of the tasks in memory studies – and with that for the MSA – is to be as inclusive and diversified as possible. Among other considerations, this implies moving beyond European and Western conceptualizations. As we increasingly understand memory processes, media, and agents as unbound, flexible, mobile and in constant transformation, memory studies as a research field has to be at least as innovative, dynamic and ever-changing as the objects, platforms and forms of remembrance we study. In this constant state of creative becoming, we believe that memory studies needs to constantly stretch out to new and under-explored areas to incorporate in a more systematic manner non-hegemonic epistemologies of the past.

This conference will thus highlight, among other things, the extending horizons of memory studies, inviting papers that discuss both transnational memory constellations and specific examples of local memory-making around the globe. It seeks answers to questions such as: How can memory studies continue to conceptualize the production of memories around the globe while taking into account the diversity of conceptualizations of time and space? Acknowledging the fact that current theories of memory are heavily influenced by the memories of traumatic pasts, how can memory studies broaden its scope, for instance, by incorporating the analysis of non-violent pasts?

As an interdisciplinary forum for memory studies, we warmly welcome contributions from various research fields and explicitly invite transdisciplinary approaches.

Submissions of papers and panels can address but are not limited to:

The MSA welcomes a variety of formats of presentations, including “traditional” academic papers, full panels, Q&As and roundtable discussions. For the Madrid conference, we will accept contributions in Spanish in addition to the English. Consequently, the submissions can be sent in either or both languages. We also encourage the submission of both full panels (preferably with participants from different universities) and innovative proposals for workshops, film screenings, roundtable discussions and more. Proposals for bilingual panels are also welcome. Please contact the organizers if you would like to discuss ideas, or if you have further questions.

The proposals should include a title, abstract and a short bio of 80 words. The abstracts, of a maximum length of 200 words, should position the contribution within one or more themes and indicate the preferred format of the contribution (traditional paper, workshop, film presentation, roundtable…).

The submission system is now open and will close on 1 October 2018. Acceptance letters will be sent out in January 2019.

Further questions can be addressed to conference@memorystudiesassociation.org