History, Memory and Identities

Coordinating Institution: Université du Luxembourg
From: 01/01/2003
To: 30/04/2007
Budget: 291,984.00€
Contact(s): Kmec Sonja , Margue Michel

Summary

Collective representations are based on various linguistic, cultural and political arguments. The construction and usage of a "common past" in the process of collective identifications are analysed by this research project. The aim is to understand how certain elements of the historic past are being selected and chosen to be put into collective memory and commemorated, whereas others are neglected or deleted from public memory.

This study of the constant reinvention of the past draws on the seminal publication of the Lieux de mémoire (1984-1992) by Pierre Nora on one hand and on the cultural theories of Jan and Aleida Assmann on the other hand. First, an analysis of the multilayered significations and contested meanings of the "lieux" or topoi that represent various (id)entities in Luxembourg was undertaken. A series of workshops helped to establish a methodology, which was then applied by the collective authorship of the Lieux de mémoire au Luxembourg. Usages du passé et construction nationale. This book gathers articles by over 40 scholars and provides a new look on Luxembourg history, focusing less on historical "facts" then on how collective representations of these "facts" were established, contested and reviewed in the light of 19th century national-romanticism, the world wars and recent immigration, Europeanisation and globalisation debates. Concurrently, a member of the project, Mr. Pit Péporté has completed his doctoral thesis, The creation of medieval history in Luxembourg, submitted at the University of Edinburgh in October 2007. A second volume will deal with local, regional and transnational lieux de mémoire, and with memories of minorities,

One of the most important "carriers" or "agents of identification" (Brubaker) is historiography. The instrumentalisation of history (and historians) by the nation-state to establish legitimation through historical continuity, but also spaces of negotiation and pockets of resistance, form an important research area. The project team was able to place this research in the larger frame of the European Science Foundation and contributed to the programme The Writing National Histories in Europe (NHIST). The results will be published in a multivolume publication, entitled Representations of the Past (2007-2009).
Apart from the publication of the conference papers Dépasser le cadre national des 'Lieux de mémoire'. Innovations méthodologiques, approches comparatives, lectures transnationales, held in November 2006 and the publication of the research results with regard to selectivity, periodicity, spatial identity and language in 2008, there has been a constant effort to provide the Service des Sites et Monuments nationaux with an exhibition concept for their centre of documentation "Musée Trois Glands", set to open in 2009.

Collaborations:

European Science Foundation Programme NHIST: Representations of the Past: The Writing of National Histories in Europe
Centre de Documentation sur la forteresse, l’histoire et les identités nationales - Musée de la Forteresse (Service des sites et monuments nationaux ; Ministère de la Culture)

Figure 1: « The flags of our fathers » : The role of symbolism in the construction of nationhood

Figure 2: Frank Schleck, winner at the Alpe d’Huez : (in :Revue 30 (29 juillet 2006), p. 44-45)