Lecture

The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France. The Sins of Silence

Itay Lotem (University of Westminster)

May 8, 2023, 14h30

Room 2, CES | Alta

About

In this conference, the speaker will reflect on the ways in which the policies of Europe's two largest former colonial empires 'remember' their colonial past. From the findings of his monograph he will discuss the possibility of comparing 'memory' across national borders. This session will further explore the different political and social uses of the colonial past today to, namely, articulate the meaning of race in postcolonial European societies or to redefine political identities on both the left and the right of the political spectrum.

Bio note

Itay Lotem | Lecturer in French Studies at the University of Westminster, UK. He is a historian and his work focuses on the politics of memory and race in Europe. He has published widely on different aspects of colonial memory in France and Great Britain, including the monograph The Memory of Colonialism in Britain and France: The Sins of Silence (Palgrave McMillan, 2021) and other articles that examine the links between the politics of memory, social movements, and the articulation of race in postcolonial Europe. She is currently working on a short monograph on the global politicisation of memory, which is planned to be released at Cambridge University Press in 2024.
Within the Doctoral Programme Post-Colonialisms and Global Citizenship

Within the Doctoral Programme «Post-Colonialisms and Global Citizenship»