Call for Papers for the concluding conference of the AHRC Network
‘After the Wall: Reconstructing and Representing the GDR’

REMEMBERING AND RETHINKING THE GDR:
MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES AND PLURAL AUTHENTICITIES?

8-10 September 2010 – Bangor University

Twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the unification of 
Germany, the memory of the GDR is experiencing an ever increasing boom. 
As physical signs of German division disappear from the united 
landscape, new sites of memory are being created, ranging from 
consumer-orientated Ostalgie to the documentation of political 
oppression. The diversification of this memory landscape – in both 
content and form – and the conflicting nature of many narratives has led 
not only to a blurring of boundaries between history and memory (‘myth’) 
but also to a reappraisal of the longer-term legacy of the GDR in 
unified Germany.

This interdisciplinary conference sets out to question the ongoing 
tendency to categorise memories of the GDR into neat polar opposites 
(e.g. ‘Alltag versus dictatorship’ or ‘perpretrator versus victim’). 
Whilst such concepts may partly be driven by public funding strategies, 
political narratives, or the demands of tourism, they are not always 
helpful in uncovering the multiple layers of memory and revealing the 
dynamic interplay between memory and history. We therefore particularly 
welcome papers which seek to question the polar opposites outlined 
above, and which challenge the dominant paradigms of discussion about 
GDR history. We hope that papers will suggest new ways of thinking about 
this past so as to do justice to what might be described as ‘plural 
authenticities’ and the multiple GDRs of the mind.

As the concluding event of the AHRC-funded interdisciplinary research 
network ‘After the Wall’, the conference also aims to foreground 
theoretical questions of memory, and to examine the interplay between 
form and memory. According to a number of memory theorists, the way 
societies choose to remember the past is necessarily influenced by the 
media they use to extend the limited range of individual memories. 
Contributors are thus encouraged to consider how different forms of 
remembrance may condition varied memories of the GDR past.

In keeping with the interdisciplinary nature of the network, 
contributions from any academic field are welcome. Papers may address – 
but are not limited to – the following themes:

•    Reflections on the twentieth anniversary celebrations of 2009
•    Public memory contests
•    Autobiographical recollections
•    Literary reflections
•    Monuments, museums and material culture
•    The GDR on screen
•    Political interpretations of the GDR and the effect on contemporary 
party politics
•    The periodisation of remembrance since 1989
•    The politics of East German memory in unified Germany
•    Commemorative acts
•    Visual culture

Following the discursive nature of the Network, the organisers would 
like to encourage reflective papers which seek to challenge and question 
existing conceptions, rather than to present conclusive results. The aim 
is to allow ample time for discussion, which will help to shape 
contributions for an edited volume. Papers which are to be considered 
for the volume will be expected to engage with theoretical questions of 
memory.

Contributors are asked to submit:
a)    a 300 word abstract
b)    a bullet-pointed list of the central questions which the paper 
seeks to ask (it is envisaged that these will be published on the 
website prior to the conference, in order to stimulate debate).

These should be submitted to Anna Saunders and Debbie Pinfold at 
[log in to unmask] by Monday 25 January 2010. Papers may be given 
in English or German.

The ‘After the Wall’ network was established in January 2009 in order to 
examine the ways in which the East German past has been – and is being – 
reconstructed and represented since the demise of the GDR. The project 
is the result of collaboration between Bangor University and the 
University of Bristol, and is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research 
Council. Further information can be found at: 
http://afterthewall.bangor.ac.uk.

-- 
Dr Anna Saunders
Lecturer in German
School of Modern Languages
Bangor University
Bangor
Gwynedd
LL57 2DG
Tel. 01248 382135

[log in to unmask]


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