1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910522965403321

Autore

Toth Mano

Titolo

European Memory and Conflicting Visions of the Past / / by Mano Toth

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2022

ISBN

9783030798437

3030798437

Edizione

[1st ed. 2022.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (255 pages)

Collana

Memory Politics and Transitional Justice, , 2731-3859

Disciplina

940.232

940

Soggetti

Europe - Politics and government

Collective memory

Identity politics

European Politics

Memory Studies

Identity Politics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1: Introduction -- Part 1: Pluralist Approach to Memory -- chapter 2: The Misleading Metaphor of Memory -- chapter 3: Reflexivist Social Theory of Memory -- chapter 4: Pluralist Ethics of Memory -- Part 2: Pluralist European Mythscape -- chapter 5: Disciplinary Approaches to the Idea of European Memory -- chapter 6: Historical Trajectories of the Idea of European Memory -- chapter 7: European Institutions and the Idea of European Memory -- chapter 8: Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

"In European Memory and Conflicting Visions of the Past, Mano Toth traces the manifold ways in which diverse conceptions of the past shape the present. Theoretically innovative and empirically rich, it is an important contribution to the study of both social memory and contemporary European politics." --Professor Duncan Bell, University of Cambridge, UK This book discusses a number of ways in which the dialogue about Europe's past and future could be rendered more inclusive, such as the promotion of critical and sentimental education



and the creation of virtual and actual social spaces in which citizens and organised identity groups can participate. The discussion about European memory is far from being a "merely" symbolic issue with no political consequences. Imagining Europe and its past in different ways will lead to different real political outcomes. For instance, thinking about European integration as an embodiment of the values of the Enlightenment (such as human rights, liberal democracy, and reason), as a guarantor of peace on the continent, as a guarantor of prosperity, or as a guarantor that massive human rights violations like genocide will "never again" be committed on its soil, all entail different political objectives. Similarly, conflicting understandings of European memory as either a thing or a social construct, as either one memory or a plurality of memories, as either the end point of deliberation or a dialogical process, represent not merely inconsequential cultural "froth on the tides of society," but crucially important issues with real political consequences. The book is intended to contribute to this discussion about the common European approach to the past (and thus to the future). Mano Toth is Visiting Lecturer at the Central European University, Austria. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge, UK, and specialises in European memory politics. His work has been previously published in Millennium, the Journalof Common Market Studies, and Memory Studies.