SU London Organizes “Cultures of Memory Symposium”

SU London helped to organize the 2013 “Cultures of Memory Symposium,” a multi-faceted, international symposium in which four organizing universities presented their distinct creative practices and scholarship related to memory.

These include public memory projects concerned with Guantánamo Bay detention camp and the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the performance and manifestation of remembrance, and the maintenance of cultural memory. The symposium presented these “cultures of memory” in exhibitions, performances, panel discussions and papers.

The other participating universities were University College London, York St. John University and Massey University. SU London Center Director Meredith Hyde gave the welcome address on Wednesday, Oct. 16.

The event had approximately 30 participants. The symposium was designed to create a venue for a dialogue among the participating institutions. In essence, the SU London Center arranged the conference so that each institution could highlight the work they are doing in relation to public memory.

The event at SU London was followed up by another two days at York St. John University, the final part of which was a discussion about future prospects. SU London is looking forward to future collaborations with York St. John and Massey University and is already making plans for follow-up events to continue to develop the potential connections between the institutions.

SU London has plans for future collaborations around research projects, as well as exploring the possibilities of exchanging students and perhaps even developing some shared curriculum.