From July 17 to 20, the University of Vienna hosted the International Symposium on Collective Memory‑Work. The event gathered scholars, artists, and activists working across disciplines to explore collaborative memory methodologies as tools for social and political transformation. The symposium focused on the method of collective memory writing as a research-analytical tool for understanding the translocal and international structures of political-economic and political-cultural systems through personal narratives. The program featured keynotes, panel discussions, research labs, and poster sessions. Participants engaged in transnational dialogue around questions of memory, identity, justice, and the emancipatory potential of co-writing practices.
In the joint session with Dr. Anna Schick, titled “Agitating Collectivity: praxis of collective memory writing across geographies and disciplines”, Emina Bužinkić (Institute for Development and International Relations, IRMO) presented her research and reflections on refugee youth education experiences in Croatian schools, focusing on their racialization, and the necessity of pedagogies of critical transnational relations. By connecting the lived experiences of marginalized youth in the European peripheries to broader discussions of memory and collective authorship, the session contributed to the symposium’s core aim: reclaiming memory as a political and relational practice across and beyond scholarly work.
