Slow Memory and the Transformation of Conflicts

In this episode, members of working group four examine slow processes of remembering after the Yugoslav wars and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Inspired by their COST Action meetings in Belgrade and Belfast during 2024, co-chairs of the working group, Orli Fridman (Associate Professor at the Faculty of Media and Communications and Professor of the School for International Training, Belgrade) and Chris Reynolds (Professor of European History and Memory Studies at Nottingham Trent University, UK) talk to Siobhan Kattago (Associate Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Tartu, Estonia) about their long-standing research on transformations of conflict in Belgrade and Belfast. In addition, Tamara Šmidling, a memory activist with the Centre for Public History, describes how ‘memory walks’ in the streets of Belgrade exemplify slow processes of memory. William Blair, Director of Collections with National Museums NI discusses how museum curators and oral historians work within long durations of time and slow memory. In comparing their experiences of slow memory in the areas of activism, peacebuilding, oral history, memory walks, and the curation of history exhibits, it becomes increasingly clear that transformations of conflict are slow processes that leave unpredictable traces in the present. While reconciliation may often seem elusive, the podcast outlines the different tempos and temporalities of working towards a lasting peace.

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