CfA: Memory Matters: Non-Human Agents in Memory Studies

7th Annual Graduate Workshop of the GS OSES at the University Regensburg in cooperation with the Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America in the Modern World.

22 July 2025

From witnessing stones and talking rivers to breathing ruins: The 2026 Graduate Workshop Memory Matters: Non-Human Agents in Memory Studies seeks to highlight how materials, objects, geological strata, and the environment function both as archives of (collective) memory and as agents that foster memory practices outside, beyond, and at times against well-established institutions and dominant narratives. The workshop will be held from 05–06 February 2026 at the University of Regensburg and invites applications that explore entanglements between material culture and memory studies.

We invite contributions that can include, but are not limited to, the following questions:

•  Which frameworks allow us to read materials and matter as active participants in cultural remembrance?
•  How do matter, things, and the natural world bear traces of historical events, violence, resistance, or continuity?
•  How do they engage with dominant historical discourse, and how do they challenge or subvert it to create counternarratives?

We welcome research addressing the themes of the workshop in any context from around the world. Contributions featuring East and Southeast Europe, or the Americas, as well as comparative studies, are particularly welcome given the focus of the expertise in Regensburg. The workshop will be held in English.

To apply, please send an abstract of a maximum of 400 words and 5 keywords and a short biographical note of around 100 words in one PDF document to gsoses.conference@ur.de. The application deadline is October 1st, 2025. Successful applicants will be notified by November 1st, 2025. The Graduate School will reimburse travel costs of up to 150 EUR and cover accommodation costs in Regensburg for up to two nights. For international applicants, additional funding will be considered.

In case of any inquiries, please feel free to reach out to us at gsoses.conference@ur.de.

We look forward to receiving your application!

The organising committee,

Anni-Lotta Hamer, Elisa Mucciarelli and Teona Ivashchenko 

Please find the CfA file here.​​​​​​​​​​​

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