Abstract

With a point of departure in examples from memory processes in South Africa, Palestine, and Israel, this roundtable is devoted to reflecting on the political, historical, and theological significances of the past. How does memory condition the perception, conceptualisation, and perpetuation of repression, conflict, and violence - and/or visions of peace, justice and reconciliation? Specifically, our discussion aims at probing the spatial dimensions of memory: the significance of cities as memory nodes. Cities (or places in cities) often carry powerful mnemonic consequence and symbolic importance, and hence are subject to contesting interpretations, cultural/historiographical interventions, and spatial control. Cities are conditioned by political power, historical conditions, and cultural processes, but are also conditioning the perceptions, imaginaries, and current constructions of the past, the present, and future. This public event is organised as part of the Beyond Sacred/Secular Cities project, hosted by the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University. 

• Robert Vosloo: TBA
• Henry Mbaya: TBA
• Lisa Strömbom: Contestation of space, memory and archaelogy in Silwan/City of David
• Torsten Janson: I Love JLM: memory, affect, and cultural violence in the ‘Heart of the World’

Speakers

Robert Vosloo is Professor of Systematic Theology at the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University (South Africa). He received his doctoral degree from the University of the Western Cape (South Africa) in 1994. His research interests include systemic theology, South African church history and history theory.

Henry Mbaya is Professor at the Department of Systematic Theology and Ecclesiology, Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). He obtained his doctorate in Theology in 2005, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His research focuses on Anglican mission history and African culture in Southern Africa in the late 19th and the 20th century. 

Lisa Strömbom is Associate Professor in Political Science and MECW researcher at CMES. She has published on identities in conflict, conflict transformation and historiography, recognition in intrastate conflict as well as on grassroots peacebuilding with a main empirical focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Torsten Janson is a researcher at CMES and Senior Lecturer in History of Religions and Religious Behavioural Science at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies. Torsten has a PhD in Islamic Studies and his research interests include: Islam and Muslim identity in children’s literature (Middle East & diasporas); multiculturalism and Islamophobia; Palestinians and education in Lebanon; and visual politics in Turkish Islamism.

Moderator

Barbara Törnqwist-Plewa is a professor of Eastern and deputy dean at the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology at Lund University in Sweden. Her main research interests are cultural memory, heritage, identity and nationalism in Eastern and Central Europe, but she has also published on Polish-Swedish cultural relations. 

This event is co-organized with the project Beyond Sacred/Secular Cities - Exploring Politics of Memory, Space, and Religion in Middle Eastern Nationalisms. It is part of the CMES seminar series spring 2024. For more information, visit the CMES website.