Prerequisits

There are no specific prerequisites for participating in this course and completing its requirements. However, prior knowledge of basic theories of memory and history is recommended, as it will facilitate understanding of the topics discussed and active participation in discussions and practical work. Students should be prepared to read and analyse complex theoretical texts, and to engage in fieldwork and interviews.

Content (Syllabus outline)

The content of the course includes the relationship between individual and collective memory through the theoretical frameworks of Maurice Halbwachs, Andreas Huyssen, and Aleida Assmann. It covers the definition of memorial landscapes and introduces the challenges in defining basic concepts, such as revisionism and negationism. The course also involves practical work with informants and a comparison of political interventions in historiography from the mid-20th century onwards, addressing the confrontation between socialist / communist and revisionist / negationist reinterpretations of pivotal events in European and Slovenian / Yugoslav history. Special attention is given to the analysis of the transformation of the memorial landscape in Slovenia post-1991.

Readings

• Assmann, Aleida (2013) Das neue Unbehagen an der Erinnerungskultur. Eine Intervention, C.H.Beck Verlag, Muenchen;
• Pim de Boer; Duchaardt, Heinz; Kreis, Georg; Schmale, Wolfagng (izd.), (2012), Europaeische Erinnerungsorte (v treh delih), Oldenburg Verlag, Muenchen;
• Clendinnen, Inga (1999), Reading the Holocaust, Cambridege Univeristy Press, Cambridge;
• LaCapra, Dominick (2001), Writing History, Writing Taruma, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore;
• Halbwachs, Maurice (2001), Kolektivni spomin, SH Ljubljana;
• Huyssen, Andreas (2003), Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory, Stanford University Press, Stanford;
• Luthar, Breda Luthar, Oto(2003) “Kolonizacija Spomina. Politika in tekstualnost domobranskih spomenikov po letu 1991”, Zbornik Janka Pleterskega, ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana;
• Luthar, Oto (2014), “Preimenovanje in izključevanje kot sestavni del postkomunistične kultura spomina v Sloveniji«, Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino, št. 2, 2014, Ljubljana.

Objectives and competences

The series of lectures and seminars will focus on understanding the relationship between memory and history. The introductory part will present the three generations of founders and advocates of memory studies. Students will learn about the reasons, circumstances, and techniques of (trans)forming individual and collective memory, with a clear emphasis on their distinctions. By exploring different dimensions and types of memorial landscapes, students will understand the advantages and disadvantages of structured/closed and narrative/open interviews through their thematic assignments. Additionally, through concrete examples and excursions, they will learn to read and analyse the language of various types of memorial landscapes in Central and Southeastern Europe. The course will be delivered in collaboration with Austrian, Serbian, and Hungarian lecturers, who are experts in the memorial landscape of the First World War in western Serbia, concentration camps (Mauthausen, Hartheim), and the Memento Park in Budapest. They will help students understand the difference between primary and secondary material sources and introduce them to the basic techniques of different politics of the past.

Intended learning outcomes

Students will use the knowledge acquired in the course to produce a scientific contribution that can serve as a draft of a dissertation chapter or a research article. In doing so, they will develop the ability to critically analyse and interpret the processes of collective memory in a historical perspective and enhance their academic writing skills, contributing to their scientific and professional development.

Learning and teaching methods

Types of learning/teaching:

• Frontal teaching,
• Independent students work,
• e-learning

Teaching methods:

• Explanation,
• Conversation/discussion/debate,
• Work with texts.

Assessment

• Long written assignments (80 %),
• Final examination (written/oral) (20 %).