WP2 established of a typology of troubled pasts, according to type of conflict and the relevant regimes of memory they create, focusing also on revisionist debates in Europe and on victimhood in comparative perspective. The analysis of the research data of the oral history research showed, among other findings, the dominance of the national identity over the idea of a common European identity. The EU’s influence is extremely difficult to extend beyond the level of the economy (and at this level, it has bureaucratic and punitive characteristics) into fields such as culture, society, or everyday life.
In approaching the mediation of past conflict, most research up to date focused on individual case studies; on one kind of media process, mostly representation; and on one kind of medium. RePAST advanced this state-of-the-art within WP3: by conducting parallel studies of the mediation of different conflicts in eight European countries; by examining all media processes of production, representation and reception; by examining representation from a longitudinal perspective; and by including an analysis of social media.
The cases researched under WP4 keep offering multiple possibilities for further study and research as well as for discussion. More and more works and artistic projects are emerging in the studied contexts or are re-evaluated by critics and curators. In that sense the research did not “exhaust” the possibilities and potential of the material gathered, yet it managed to reach all the aims planned and more. Research carried out in WP4 of the RePAST inspired several other engagements of the leader of this WP, which attests to the sustainability of the project and its impact after its completion.
Within WP5, we highlight three main aspects: polarization, radical right populist parties, gender and intergenerational transmission of memories. We have seen how polarization about the past can grow with the passage of time as a product of the political context. Also, we measured polarization about the past in different ways, i.e. as feelings, identification with one of the sides, or impact of the past on citizens’ vote. In the field of electoral studies, we show that the past matters at the time of voting for radical right populist parties and these effects. We have seen in exploratory analyses how gender is a crucial dimension in understanding conflict. We propose a novel taxonomy of the EU’s policies in respect of ‘troubled pasts’, which is original, thereby understanding the EU’s actions beyond the prior state of the art.
In WP6 RePAST organised a virtual workshop on the state of the art in the field: Negotiating Troubled Past(s): International Workshop took place in May 2021. The Workshop discussed the outcomes of 12 EU-funded international research projects that dealt with the processes of negotiating troubled pasts in several European societies. 140 participants from more than 30 countries registered and attended the workshop from a variety of stakeholders: NGOs, policy-makers, politicians, and academics.
