Revival of Traumatic Pasts: German and Italian Colonization in German and Italian Fiction and Memory Activism

Despite the temporal distance, Italy and Germany have presently begun to recognize their ethical “implication” (Rothberg 2019) into their crimes of colonialism. The revival of these vital but marginalized memories challenges the core of these countries’ national identities contradicting the singularity of the Holocaust in Germany and the amnesia and embellishment of colonialism prevailing in Italy. This seminar explores the idea that German and Italian authors of postcolonial fiction and memory activists are two types of “memory entrepreneurs” (Pollak 1993), who by different means make Germany’s and Italy’s colonial crimes “memorable” (Rigney 2021) in the public sphere.

In the seminar, leading experts of postcolonial literature and memory activists will present key authors of German and Italian postcolonial literature and memory activism focussing on the “Colonialism Remembrance Concept for the city of Berlin” that contests problematic urban spaces. Ultimately, the seminar will open a discussion about possible approaches to transnational and interdisciplinary research into colonialism.

Sign up and programme: event.sdu.dk/colonialliterature

Everyone is welcome! For questions please contact Jessica Ortner jort@sdu.dk.