CFP: SIXTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MEMORY STUDIES ASSOCIATION (MSA), "SOLIDARITY"

                               

Sixth Annual Meeting of the Memory Studies Association (MSA)

“Solidarity”

Seoul, Korea, July 3-7, 2022

The Memory Studies Association (MSA) invites proposals for its sixth annual conference, July 3-7, 2022. The conference will be hosted by the Critical Global Studies Institute, Sogang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

The MSA is very enthusiastic to host its next annual meeting in Seoul, as the first one to take place outside of Europe. In the hope that the COVID-19 situation will improve, the MSA 2022 Program Committee has decided that the conference will be organised as an in-person event. We will closely monitor the status of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Korean government’s policy to ensure the health and safety of all participants. While the main events will be live-streamed, due to technical and financial limitations a fully hybrid event will not be possible. In order to accommodate more participants, however, Working and Regional Groups are also invited to organise a limited number of fully on-line events to take place in addition to the main conference program immediately before and after the in-person meeting. The MSA Forward and Methodological workshop will also take place on-line.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Solidarity.” The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic—amid rising inequality and the climate crisis—have forcefully demonstrated the necessity and precarity of solidarity, as well as its contested nature. This has, in turn, brought to light the need to reflect upon the pivotal role of collective memory in constructing, reinforcing, or interrogating various forms of solidarity. We hope that the conference will provide an opportunity to bring together a range of different approaches and analyses for illuminating the multi-faceted and multi-layered dimensions of mnemonic solidarity. We particularly encourage proposals that critically examine the limitations of the prevailing epistemologies of antagonistic and/or cosmopolitan memory, de-centre global North perspectives, and explore new ways of imagining transnational mnemonic solidarity based on justice, mutual understanding, and recognition of differences. Of course, we also very much welcome proposals on all other areas of memory studies—especially those areas that have been relatively under-explored.

Proposals are invited for panels, roundtables, and individual papers from members who are committed to traveling to Seoul for the in-person meeting. The MSA especially encourages panel proposals. The panel should, in principle, consist of 4 presenters, a chair, and optionally a discussant. The participant may appear as a presenter only once but can act as chair or discussant in more than one panel. The roundtable should consist of around 4-5 participants with shorter statements and discussions. More detailed information—including submission rules and guidelines—will be posted in due course on the MSA website, so please check back regularly for updates.

Key Information

• 2022 MSA-Seoul Conference Dates: July 3, 2022, to July 7, 2022

• Opening of Proposal Submissions: November, 2021 (specific date TBA)

• Submissions Deadline: January, 2022 (specific date TBA)

• Notifications of Acceptance: March, 2022 (specific date TBA)

• All presenters must be MSA members in good standing, having paid their membership fees. For more information on how to join, please visit our ‘Become a Member’ page.

Travel Grants

A limited number of travel grants will be made available for low-income members. Details will be announced later in the year.

Questions?

Further questions can be addressed to conference@memorystudiesassociation.org.