The research group Memoria Historica en las Literaturas Ibéricas has recently shared a collection of lovely updated with the EuroClio Secretariat. We are glad to report their message below, and congratulate them for these exciting developments!
“In the following lines we will briefly describe the research projects currently being developed by the research group Memoria Historica en las Literaturas Ibéricas (MHLI) of the University of the Basque Country. We will begin with the project “The art of memory and the memory of art in education” (US21/15) which aims to make innovative didactic contributions to work on conflicting memories through literature and other arts in the educational field in Basque. Mainly, it is based on the concept of “cultural memory” (J. Assman 2008; A. Erll 2011). Framework of cultural studies and memory have theorized how art creates and shapes collective images of the past by restoring what has been silenced and contribute to reconciliation through recognition of the damage caused (A. Assmann, 1999). Through a participatory action-research methodology, didactic proposals are designed, piloted, and disseminated, implementing pedagogical practices based on historical empathy. The project aims to emphasize how literature and other arts offer testimonies of the past that could provide reflections on emotions and affections (Resina, 2011).
On the other hand, our recently initiated research project “Gernika(s): Representation, Transmediality and Resemantization of a Historical Trauma” (2022-2026) aims to expand the afore-carried research lines of the MHLI. Directly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, it gathers a cross-disciplinary group of scholars dedicated to the study of both Gernika as a lieux de memoire, as political event and source of inspiration for Picasso´s most famous painting through a solid transmedial approach. This cutting-edge project overlaps with a momentum of vivid political activity regarding memory and counter memories, in which commonly marginalized voices are blatantly confronted as pure «rival knowledge» (Sousa Santos, 2007; Flórez Alonso, 2007).
We will end by mentioning the group´s latest publication, the monograph Euskal liburuaren franquismo osteko zentsura (1975-1983) [‘Post-Franco era’s censorship in Basque books (1975-1983)]’, edited by Gandara Sorarrain. The research is the result of an exhaustive analysis of data obtained in the AGA (General Archive of the Administration), located in Alcalá de Henares. The data was obtained by the methodical emptying of several hundred files, which triggered a systematic study of the censorship apparatus in the post-Franco era. The research focuses on its legal structure, and on the censorship practices present in Children and Youth Literature, Adult Literature, and translations. In addition, a chapter dedicated to quantified data completes the volume.”
Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, 25 February 2023
