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RAC Outcomes
Events
Academic workshops
1. Academic workshop 1: Australasian Association for European History 28th Biennial Conference, 28-30 June 2023, ANU (1 day)
The ANU Centre for European Studies was delighted to partner with the School of History on the Australasian Association for European History (AAEH) 28th Biennial Conference. The Conference covered many themes in modern European history and European memory studies, it hosted an event on Gender, Sexuality and Assaults on Rights in Modern Europe and several sessions, panels and roundtables focused specifically on memory, memorialization and remembering that formed part of the RAC project. These included (as per the program):
- 28/06 from 1:30pm to 6:30pm – Soviet History in Times of War; Ukraine in History and Memory; Ukraine roundtable
- 30/06 from 11:00 to 4pm – Italian Memory politics; memory and Memorialization
The conference included a special guest panel and roundtable focused on Ukraine. The presentation by Professor Yuri Shapoval, ‘Memory of the Holodomor: What Sources Help to Construct It’, analysed the construction of the collective memory of the Holodomor. The second presentation, ‘Transforming Historical Narratives of the Second War and Memory Policy in Ukraine’ by Dr Nadia Honcharenko, examined changes in historical narrative and memory policy of the Second World War in contemporary Ukraine, highlighting the deconstruction of Soviet mythology of the ’Great Patriotic War’, the gradual transformation of ideas regarding the causes, course, and consequences of the war, and formation of its Ukrainian dimension. The public panel was followed by a roundtable with the guest speakers focused on how the knowledge of the past can help us understand the present.
While the workshop was initially planned as a solely ANUCES event, the opportunity arose to collaborate with the ANU School of History and the Australasian Association for European History from which the project greatly benefited with expanded mailing list and registrations. This academic collaboration provided opportunities for higher-degree research students and junior scholars to forge broader networks with more established scholars working on Europe.
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/ukraine-history-and-memory
2. Academic workshop 2: Migrant life narratives as place-making in post-colonial Australia, ANU, 27 October 2023, 9am–4pm (1 day)
The workshop revisited the contentious terms that have been considered essential for understanding Australian history and memory, such as “migrant”, “refugee” or “multicultural.” It reflected on how migrant life narratives, cutting across different genres, languages and cultures, define Australia as home and respond to the power dynamics that underlie the settler colonial heritage. The workshop participants also engaged with recent criticism of “migrant writing” genre, and addressed theoretical and methodological questions about how to talk about works produced in Australia by people who apply transcultural lenses to their narratives of place and selves. Participants included HDRs/ECRs and established academics working in different disciplines (incl. literature, languages, history, anthropology, philosophy). Select papers, the outcome of the workshop, are to be included in a special issue accepted for publication by the Journal of Intercultural Studies (Tylor & Francis). The workshop was organized in collaboration with the ANU Research School of Social Sciences.
The workshop created linkages between researchers working in different disciplines to improve integrated approaches to memory and culture in international relations.
3. Academic workshop 3: Reckoning with the past: Soviet communism in postcolonial Australian perspective, 24 November 2023, 9am-5pm, and 25 November, 10am-2pm, ANU (1.5 day)
The workshop gathered senior and young researchers, from a range of disciplines, and cultural practitioners to assess existing knowledge on transnational memory, and organisation of collective memory by political agents in Europe and Australia.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought to the attention of a broader cross-section of Australian society historic events that were previously largely ignored or unknown (such as Stalin’s Holodomor famine of the 1930s). It also brought to the fore instances of Russia’s manipulation of historical memory under Putin’s regime and the long history of Russian imperialism that underpins his war against Ukraine. It might thus be a good time to explore parallels between the (post)colonial and (post)socialist realms, and reflect on questions such as: Where does Siberia feature in an Australian imaginary? Can Australia apply familiar postcolonial paradigms to its approaches to and understandings of Eastern Europe?
We gathered contributors who are working on various forms of life narrative (life writing, oral history, autobiographical fiction, etc.) and are interested in offering a critical reading of cultural productions, a critical response to the existing scholarship on views of Soviet communism in Australia, or a personal, creative response to the debate. Papers can address, among others, topics within broader themes including: Memories of Eastern Europe in Australia; Soviet colonialism in Australian perceptions; Translating (post)colonialisms; Multilayered meanings of East European socialism in Australia; Curating memory; “Communism in the family” – remembering earlier generations.
The workshop aimed, among others, to update knowledge on approaches to collective memory and memorialization practices in Australia; update knowledge on the EU memory, its significance in external relations, including with third countries such as Australia; increase interest among academics in undertaking work on collective remembrance with policy focus. An edited collection arising from the workshop is in progress (forthcoming 2025).
Program: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2023/8/Reckoning_with_the_past_flyer.pdf
4. Academic workshop 4: Memory of Borderlands, University Wrocław, 24 January 2024 (0.5 day)
The workshop focused on discussing complexities of history, memory, place and identity in the East-Central European borderlands. It also involved presentation of research on memory and identity of East-Central European migrants in Australia. Further research directions that would involve Central/Eastern European and Asia-Pacific researchers working on transnational memory making and memorialization practices, were discussed.
The workshop and following discussions and networking resulted in three academic publications with the Journal of Intercultural Studies (forthcoming 2025). Further outcomes of the workshop include the collaborative work on the conference “Objects of memory in post-Yalta perspective” (University of Wroclaw, 13-14 June 2024), a keynote delivered during that conference and additional project dissemination activities with the participants of the conference (academics, students and practitioners).
Expert workshops
5. Expert workshop 1: Between Worlds: Performing Polish-Jewish Continuities and Encounters, 5-6 December 2022, Warsaw (2 days)
The expert workshop was organized in collaboration with the Polin Museum Warsaw. The project Between Worlds: Performing Polish-Jewish Continuities and Encounters examined the characteristics, functions and significance of Jewish culture in transnational, international and intergenerational contexts and memory. It explored contact and conflict zones Yiddish theatre enforces and renegotiates in Poland – one of the most important centres of its development – and in a broader context of Jewish global diasporas. It examined theatre’s role in stimulating intercultural dialogue, and its impact on the identity of the Jewish communities with Polish roots living in Australia and the Americas. The project engaged artists and researchers of Jewish studies, diaspora and migrant cultures from Poland, the US, Australia, and other parts of the world.
The program of the workshop included academic presentations and roundtables, and visits to the Polin Museum, The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, the Center for Yiddish Culture and the Jewish Theatre in Warsaw.
The workshop enabled exchange of knowledge between partners in Europe, Australia and, additionally, the US: researchers, artists, cultural institutions and practitioners. It set an agenda for priority research necessary to increase effectiveness of international discussions on difficult pasts and memories. While initially the workshop was planned to take place in Prague, the Polin Museum in Warsaw turned out to be an excellent host and location to bring together international participants to reflect on difficult pasts and their ongoing contentious representations. These changes enabled the inclusion of a very important collecting and commemorative institution, The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, and the interaction with educational and cultural institutions (Center for Yiddish Culture and the Jewish Theatre in Warsaw). Considerable focus was given to approaches to culture and memory as instrument in foreign relations and considerations on how memory politics works in different regions.
The workshop will be followed by two seminars, in Australia and the US, extending the project activities and outcomes beyond the scope of the project.
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/between-worlds-performing-polish-jewish-continuities-and-encounters
6. Expert workshop (seminar) 2: Holocaust (post)memory in transnational perspectives, 20 October 2023, online (1 day)
A network of scholars and practitioners participating in the Expert Workshop 1 identified a need for further discussions focused specifically on Holocaust post-memory in Europe, Australia and the US. Thus, the second Expert Workshop was organized in collaboration with the University of Łódź and the Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute, Warsaw. It involved scholars, artists, managers of cultural institutions and industry representatives. The seminar aimed to explore post-Holocaust discourses across the world and ways in which Jewish culture is maintained, negotiated and commemorated. It also encouraged reflection on how Jewish histories and (post)Holocaust memory is represented and performed in complex transnational contexts.
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/seminar-holocaust-postmemory-transnational-perspectives
Policy dialogues
7. Dialogue 1: Czechs and Slovaks in Brodie Helmets, 5 April 2022, ANU (4-5.00pm – roundtable; 5-8.00pm – public event and networking) (0.5 day)
ANU Centre for European Studies in collaboration with the Embassies of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic, organized an exhibition-focused discussion and seminar on the international cooperation during conflicts, specifically drawing on the cooperation between the Czechoslovak and Australian armed forces during World War II (the Siege of Tobruk). The exhibition provoked broader discussions on commemoration of international efforts during conflicts and the challenges of national historical politics to include foreign contributions and international perspectives. The speakers included: Dr Katarzyna Williams; Ms Anne McNaughton; HE Tomas Dub, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Australia; HE Tomas Ferko, Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Australia; Prof Frank Bongiorno; Mr Guy Butler-Manuel.
Duration of the activity: 4h, including 1h closed roundtable with European diplomats and academics; 2h public event; 1h networking between academics, diplomats and broader audience, & reception.
Program: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/exhibition-czechs-and-slovaks-brodie-helmets
8. Dialogue 2: "Mom I don't want war" War in a Child's Eyes, 30 September 2022, ANU (4-5.00pm – roundtable; 5-7.00pm – public talks and exhibition; 7-8.00pm – networking) (0.5 day)
This exhibition-focused event – involving exhibition launch, presentations and discussions – attracted a lot of attention, including from government, a broader community and media. The exhibition presented drawings that record children’s experiences during World War II and the current war following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The exhibition launch was proceeded by discussions with European diplomats about using historical analogies in shaping public responses to the current war, and potential challenges that must be considered, particularly in the context of diverse, international audiences. The speakers included Dr Katarzyna Williams; Ms Agata Utnicka, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. of Poland; H.E. Mr Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ambassador of Ukraine. The official part of the event was followed by networking.
Duration of the activity: 4h, including 1h discussion between European diplomats and academics; 2h public event; 1h networking between academics, diplomats and broader audience, and interviews with journalists.
The event was featured in an article in The Strategist of The Australian Strategic Policy Institute: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/mum-i-dont-want-war-heartbreaking-messages-from-children-under-fire/
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/events/exhibition-mom-i-dont-want-war-war-childs-eyes
9. Dialogue 3: Policy dialogue on Decolonising Memory: Politics of Memory and the Process of Reconciliation, 28 February 2024, Polaron, Melbourne (2:00-4:30pm - roundtable; 5-8pm – networking & reception) (0.5 day)
Collective memory plays an important role in politics and society. It makes a community form its internal policy, decide about its external relations and shape its collective identity. Engaging with discourses of national identity leads to reflecting on the past and ways in which memory shapes who we are. In the context of ongoing reconciliation debates, it seems pertinent to reflect on ways in which different “pasts” – of Indigenous Australians, Anglo-Australians, as well as refugees, migrants, and their descendants, are expressed, converge or diverge, and impact one another. It is important to consider what a multicultural fabric of Australia may mean for its collective memory and identity, and how transnational memory discourses could encourage mnemonic change in Australia to support processes of reconciliation.
This roundtable gathered researchers, professionals and representatives from ethnic community groups, who collectively reflected on questions such as: What have we learned from the Uluru process and the 2023 Referendum?; What is the role of language in memory politics, the processes of remembering and reconciliation?; What does language politics imply within and beyond the context of decolonization?; What is the role of translators, educators, social workers and those who work between communities and cultures?; How can diverse communities be mobilized to engage with the reconciliation process, if they do not share a common past, struggle with silences within their primary cultures or experienced other forms of mnemonic violence?
The dialogue aimed to expand dissemination of work on memory approaches and strategies in the EU and Australia, and create the opportunity to expand the network and allow for closer collaboration between researchers, practitioners and ethnic community groups. The event was organized in collaboration with POLARON, Translations, Interpreting & EU Citizenship, Melbourne.
Duration of the activity: 5h, including 2.5h discussion at the Polaron; 5-8pm networking and reception (with additional industry representatives).
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/anuces-held-roundtable-decolonising-memory
Training activities
A planned Training Course for secondary school teachers was replaced with two seminars for tertiary education students (in history, global/international studies, social and cultural studies, and European languages) and additional student-focused activities (internship and research projects). This change was necessitated by Covid and post-Covid restrictions in accessing secondary schools. Due to scheduling and administrative arrangements the seminars took place after the end of the project on 21 March and 23 May 2024, at ANU. For this reason they are not included in the budget.
10. Two seminars on memory studies and commemoration for tertiary education students
The delivered activity followed the proposed agenda, that is, the engagement with topics that complement students’ regular curricula, such as EU history, memory discourses and politics of remembrance, as well as broader practical issues (e.g. how to involve young people in remembrance activities; how to address current issues of racism and intolerance in remembrance-focused activities).
The activity was divided in two sessions. The first session focused on instruction and specifically aimed to:
- increase awareness of Europe’s history and the EU politics of remembrance, its role in foreign policy and impact on external relations;
- update knowledge on the current state of memory studies, incl. transnational memory
- develop approaches to increase interest of young generations and their involvement in remembrance and memorialization practices
- develop approaches to address current issues of racism and intolerance in remembrance-focused activities
- advance understanding of the concept of transnational reconciliation
The second session, held several weeks later, focused on students’ approaches to European-Australian memory and commemoration. It featured an interactive session with students presenting their research projects.
11. Additional student-focused activities
Three intern students worked with the project team members on short research projects focused on memory, migration and decolonization:
· Guy Butler-Manuel, “To Remove or Not Remove: How Can Epistemic Decolonization be Seen Through the Removal of Colonial Statues?”
· Lottie Twyford, “Memory of the Algerian War in France”
· Wouter Meinen, “The Narrative of Apologies: Collective political apologies in the Netherlands and Australia”
Select research outcomes are published on the project’s website.
Thanks to the project outreach an international student has started working with the project team member on their PhD research focused on the issues of identity, memory and transcultural exchanges:
· Sofia Kalashnikova, “National Identity in Australia, Problems of Meaning and Representativeness”
Additional events
Due to a high number of additional events (6) and a shorter duration of each of them (about 2h), the events are combined as one item on the budget. The total length (of 9.5h) is reported as 1 day. The number of attendees varied at each of these events and we were unable to collect complete attendees reports for all of these events. Therefore, the event with an average number of attendees is reported for the purposes of the budget report.
12. Screening and panel discussion 1: International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 10 February 2021, 5.30pm-7.30pm, ANU
This event, organized in collaboration with the Embassy of Hungary and the Embassy of Germany, marked the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. It featured a screening of the film Son of Saul (2015) by László Nemes, and a moderated discussion that followed the screening. Opening and introductory remarks were delivered by Anne McNaughton, ANUCES Director, H.E. Dr István Mikola, Ambassador of Hungary, and H.E. Dr Thomas Fitschen, Ambassador of Germany.
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/international-holocaust-remembrance-day
13. Screening and panel discussion 2: Inner Wars: Women and the war in Ukraine, 25 August 2022, at 5-6.30pm, ANU
The current full-scale invasion of Ukraine is part of a war which began in 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and occupied areas within eastern Ukraine. Volunteers from across Ukraine joined the military in its armed struggle against Russian and Russian-proxy forces. Amongst them were women. In this documentary, Kondakova traces the daily life of three Ukrainian women fighters. Each has battles of their own to contend with, aside from fighting for Ukraine. The ANU Centre for European Studies organized a screening of the 2020 Ukrainian documentary by Masha Kondakova, Inner Wars (Моя Війна). The screening was followed by a discussion between Dr Sonia Mycak and Dr Katarzyna Williams from the ANU Centre for European Studies. The discussion was followed by Q&A with the audience.
Inner Wars Моя Війна, 2021: Since the uprising of a pro-Russian insurgency in eastern Ukraine in 2014, hundreds of women joined the army. Only a few made it to the front line. Filmmaker Masha embeds herself in the war zone to follow the daily life of three of them. By sharing the intimacy of these fighters, Masha soon becomes a victim of this brotherhood conflict jeopardizing this film and her life. Documentary 68 mins
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/inner-wars-women-and-war-ukraine
14. Screening and panel discussion 3: Masha & Valentyna by Simon Target, 21 February 2023, 7:30-9pm, ANU Kambri Cultural Centre
In collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Poland, the ANU Film Group, and the Ukrainian Embassy, ANU Centre for European Studies organized a screening of Masha & Valentyna, a documentary by Sydney‐based filmmaker Simon Target. The event was opened with introductory remarks by Ms Agata Utnicka, Chargé d’Affaire, Embassy of Poland, HE Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia, and Dr Katarzyna Williams. The screening was followed by a panel discussion with the director and Dr Sonia Mycak.
The event marked the first anniversary of Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022.
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/masha-valentyna-qa-screening
15. Screening and panel discussion 4: Exhibition Unissued Diplomas, 21 March 2023, ANU, 6-7:30pm
On the occasion of the visit of the Ukrainian Parliamentary delegation to Australia, and in collaboration with the Embassy of Ukraine in Australia, the High Commission of Canada in Australia, Ukrainian Canadian Students’ Union, the ANU Centre for European Studies launched the Unissued Diplomas exhibition. The exhibition arises from a broader student-led project held in more than 45 universities worldwide, uncovering the stories of 36 Ukrainian students who lost their lives in war because of Russian aggression. More details on the project are available on the website: https://www.unissueddiplomas.org.
The exhibition was accompanying by talks presented by Ms Anne McNaughton, ANUCES Director, representatives from the Ukrainian Embassy, including HE Vasyl Myroshnychenko, Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia, and student representatives.
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/unissued-diplomas
Additional resources: https://canberradaily.com.au/unissued-diplomas-preserves-stories-of-ukrainian-students/
16. Book launch and discussion with Helen Topor, the author of Neither King Nor Saint, 29 Sept 2022
The RAC project and its Lead’s research provided an inspiration for autobiographical work undertaken by Helen Topor, a member of the Canberra Writers Group, and published in 2022 in a book format. The book Neither King Nor Saint: A Man and his Daughter’s Search for Peace, focusing on the lives of European migrants arriving in Australia after the Second World War, provides valuable insights into Australian-European history and transnational memory-making. The book has won a 2023 Marion ACT Notable Book Award for nonfiction. The event featured a book launch in one of the ACT Public Libraries, introduction delivered by Dr Katarzyna Williams and a discussion with the author.
More on the book: https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/26403902
17. Book launch and panel discussion: Remembering the Dead, 31 October 2023, 5.30–7pm
The ANU Centre for European Studies organized a book launch and a conversation on topics rarely discussed: death, grief, absence and different ways of remembering people, places and things lost.
The event opened with a conversation between artists and scholars, who believe that death and loss are experiences both personal and cultural, unsettling and uplifting, focused on people, places, roots, landscapes, spirituality and creativity. The speakers reflected on these themes drawing on their own creative perspectives and diverse cultural connections, and they included: Dr Bogumiła Żongołłowicz, a Polish-Australian poet, journalist, editor and biographer; Ms Anita Patel, a Singapore-born Australian poet and writer; Dr Scott Davie, a concert pianist and lecturer at the ANU School of Music; Prof Vladimir Canudas Romo, researcher in demography and the study of mortality at the ANU School of Demography.
Website: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/events/remembering-dead-book-launch-panel-discussion-and-poetry
Conference presentations and dissemination activities
These activities are not included in the budget.
18. Presentation (dissemination activity) at the Symposium New Directions in Memory Studies: MemoryHub@ANU Inaugural Symposium, 15-16 November 2022, 9am–5pm
This inaugural symposium of the MemoryHub@ANU brought together researchers working in the field of memory studies to share their research in an interdisciplinary and international conversation. Panels addressed various topics such as slow memory, remembering the dead, transnational and diasporic memory, embodied memory, and engendering memory, with cases from a range of geographic and geopolitical contexts. The RAC project research was showcased as a substantial contribution on European memory studies in the region.
19. Presentation (dissemination activity) at the ANU–Humboldt Memory Workshop, 6 December 2022
ANU representatives, incl. a project team member, met with researchers and curators from the Humboldt University and the Humboldt Forum in Berlin to discuss recent developments in the fields of memory studies and historical politics taking account of decolonising practices. Discussions focused on Europe-Australia collaboration in developing a notion of “truth telling” as a research concept, curatorial practice and policy priority. Future collaboration opportunities were discussed.
20. Conference panel (dissemination activity) at the conference Germany and Europe in the World: Insider and Outsider Perspectives, 28-31 March 2023, Berlin
The project team organized and convened an intrenational panel, “Globalizing European Memory” (29 March 2023) during the international conference “Germany and Europe in the World Insider and Outsider Perspectives”. The panel members included Dr Özgür Özvatan (Berlin Institute of Migration and Integration research, Humboldt University), Dr Öndercan Muti (Department of Diversity and Social Conflict, Humboldt University), Dr Sulamith Graefenstein (ANU Centre for European Studies) and Dr Katarzyna Williams (ANU Centre for European Studies). The panel involved presentations of research on European memory in global contexts, closed collaboration between European and Australian researchers, and extensive networking with international scholars during the conference.
21. Roundtable with the Leibnitz Institute scholars, ANU, 8 February 2024
ANU Centre for European Studies and the ANU School of History hosted the Leibnitz Institute scholars and convened a roundtable discussion with Prof Magnus Brechtken, deputy director of the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich. The group of ten scholars discussed history and memory research agenda at ANU, including the outcomes of the RAC project, and planned for subsequent meetings to develop research collaboration.
Dissemination activities are being continued after the project has been completed and include:
- presentation at the EUSAAP Conference Revisiting EU-Asia Pacific Relations 2024, at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogykarta 20-21 May 2024;
- keynote lecture at the conference “Objects of memory in post-Yalta perspective”, University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, 13-14 June 2024;
- workshop activities accompanying the conference “Objects of memory in post-Yalta perspective”, University of Wroclaw, 13-14 June 2024;
- presentation at the Australian Historical Association 2024 Annual Conference “Home Truths”, Flinders University, Adelaide, 1-4 July 2024;
- invited lecture within “The Research Initiative on Post-Soviet Space” seminars at the University of Melbourne, 20 September 2024;
- presentation at the conference at The Sybir Memorial Museum in Białystok (awarded the 2024 Council of Europe Museum Award), September 2024.
Research dissemination will be also facilitated by the upgrade of the project website (in progress).
Publications and other resources
RAC produced a permanent project website at the ANU platform (to be duplicated and expanded on an external platform – work in progress), a series of peer-reviewed academic papers, three briefing papers (student-focused activities), an academic collected edition (in progress) and contributed to ANUCES Newsletters. RAC also started developing a substantive and unique archive of life narratives of post-WW2 European migrants to Australia, building on a unique archive of testimonies entrusted to the RAC team by the Kresy-Siberia Foundation, Australia Branch.
The project also enabled processing and publication of historic lectures, incl. “Jan Karski lecture” by Dr John Besemeres; https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/news/jan-karski-dr-john-besemeres
The project members also supported the work of several PhD students.
Briefing papers
Select papers are available at https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/briefing-paper
· Guy Butler-Manuel, “To Remove or Not Remove: How Can Epistemic Decolonization be Seen Through the Removal of Colonial Statues?”
· Lottie Twyford, “Memory of the Algerian War in France”
· Wouter Meinen (Utrecht University), “The Narrative of Apologies: Collective Political Apologies in the Netherlands and Australia” (available upon request)
Academic book – edited collection
A collected edition resulting from the academic workshop “Reckoning with the Past” constitutes one of the final outcome of the project. The collection, edited by Katarzyna Williams and Mary Besemeres, consists of ten chapters by international senior and younger scholars, from a range of disciplines. It constitutes innovative research that explores parallels between the (post)colonial and (post)socialist realms and experiences, and reflects, for example, on the application of postcolonial paradigms in understanding Eastern Europe, incl. current political sentiments. The collection is being prepared to be published with a respectable academic publisher.
Academic papers – selected publications
· Williams, Kwapisz Katarzyna and Burcu Cevik-Compiegne, eds., “Migrant life narratives as place-making in post-colonial Australia”, special issue of Journal of Intercultural Studies, forthcoming 2024.
· Williams, Kwapisz Katarzyna, “Homing Desire”: Narrating affinities between colonized nations as migrant home-making”, Journal of Intercultural Studies special issue, eds. K. Kwapisz Williams, B. Cevik-Compiegne, forthcoming 2024.
· Williams, Kwapisz Katarzyna, Ben Mercer, “Introduction: Histories and Memories between Europe and Australia: New Perspectives”, The Australian Journal of Politics and History, special issue, eds. K. Kwapisz Williams, B. Mercer, forthcoming 2024.
· Williams, Kwapisz Katarzyna, Agata Dąbrowska, “Rachel Holzer and the transnational dimensions of Yiddish theatre”, Jewish History Quarterly, vol. 4, special issue, eds. A. Dąbrowska, K. Kwapisz Williams, R. Merrill Moss, forthcoming 2024.
· Williams, Kwapisz Katarzyna, “Human bones as inherited waste of Europe,” Heritage Out Of Control, Allegra Lab, 2022, https://allegralaboratory.net/heritage-out-of-control-human-bones-as-inherited-waste-of-europe/
· Besemeres, Mary and Katarzyna Kwapisz Williams, 'Waltzing St Kilda: Writing in Polish in Australia', Journal of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature, vol. 21, no. 1 (2021)
· Katarzyna Kwapisz Williams and Jacqueline Lo, ‘Can We Talk About Poland?: Intergenerational Translations of Home’, in Translating Worlds: Migration, Memory and Culture, eds. Susannah Radstone and Rita Wilson, Routledge, United Kingdom, 2020, pp. 131-147. http://bit.ly/translatingworlds
· Katarzyna Kwapisz Williams, ‘Memory and Migration’, Griffith Review 69: The European Exchange, vol. 69, 2020, pp. 234-240. http://bit.ly/memoryandmigration
Newsletters
The Centre’s Update Newsletters showcase the activities and achievements of the ANU Centre for European Studies: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/research/publications/newsletter
· ANUCES Newsletter, December 2020: https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2021/5/ANUCES_newsletter_December2020_WEB.pdf
· ANUCES Newsletter, December 2021:
https://ces.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/2021/12/ANUCES_newsletter_December2021_WEB.pdf
Archives
Thanks to the project’s visibility and outreach, the project team was approached by the Kresy-Siberia Foundation, Australia Branch, and entrusted with a substantive and unique archive of testimonies of Siberian WW2 survivors the Foundation collected over the years.
As a result, RAC initiated the development of an archive of testimonies, oral histories and life narratives of post-WW2 European migrants to Australia at ANU. The aim is to ensure the preservation of such a unique intangible heritage and the sustainability of the archive. It is also to enable a structured examination of the archive, its accessibility for further research and its potential expansion.
This initiative enabled further collaboration with scholars in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, as well as collecting institutions across Europe. It also provides foundation for future research projects, including research applications to the Australia Research Council (in progress).
Entrusting the archive to the RAC project is a testament to RAC’s excellent outreach and dissemination activities, and trust it earned from Australian stakeholders. It also presents tangible opportunities for further research collaborations, building on, expanding and disseminating the outcomes of RAC.
