Dovile Budryte (@dbudryte.bsky.social)

EUROPAST Webinar: Defending Memory in Global Politics Which actors engage in securitization of memory, and which strategies do they use? Is it possible to avoid “defending memory” during critical situations, such as wars? What is the relationship between the practices of “defending memory” and illiberal politics? On 19 February 2025, EUROPAST, University of Southern California and Georgia Gwinett College invited the interested scholars and the general public to explore the answers to these questions with the editors and authors of the book "Defending Memory in Global Politics: Mnemonical In/Security and Crisis" (Routledge, 2025). After the introductory remarks by Maria Mälksoo, a leading scholar in memory studies, the presenters delved into these complex questions. Drawing on the cases of Colombia, Brazil and diasporic communities of Crimean Tatars, the presenters engaged with political trauma, demonstrating its power to evoke commemorations and other shared practices of collective remembrance, shaping and perpetuating collective memory, the construction of national and transnational identities, national interests and foreign policy behaviors: 🔹 Erica Resende (Brazilian War College), "Speaking for the dead in Brazil. Mothers as memory activists for justice and change"; 🔹 Fabricio Chagas-Bastos (University of Copenhagen, Harvard University) and Rodrigo Mezú (University of the Andes), "Securitizing the past in Colombia? The mnemonical disputes over the taking of the Palace of Justice in 1985"; 🔹 Didem Buhari (İzmir Katip Çelebi Üniversitesi), “Russian securitization of memory and multiple anxieties. Defending memory through the diasporic film Haytarma”. The event was moderated by one of the editors of the book Douglas Becker (University of Southern California) and commentary was given by another editor of the book Prof. Dovilė Budrytė (Georgia Gwinnett College/Vilnius University) together with Prof. Violeta Davoliūtė (Vilnius University). See the book “Defending Memory in Global Politics”: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003342083 The event was co-organized by the University of Southern California, Georgia Gwinnett College and EUROPAST project at Vilnius University. EUROPAST is a project funded by the European Union under the WIDERA program (grant agreement No. 101079466). The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. https://bit.ly/4k6CL4F