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Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation
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Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation is a Mellon-Sawyer Seminar Series running in 2017-18 at the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University. It brings together academics from many different fields, politicians and leading figures from cultural policy and the charitable sector. They are joined by novelists, poets, artists and musicians whose work has marked war in some way. The Series is divided into three strands - Textual, Monumental, and Aural Commemoration - and is guided by three overarching questions: Who is commemoration for and why? How does commemoration lead to reconstruction and reconciliation? What is the future of commemoration?
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| # | Episode Title | Description | People | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonathan Dove speaks to Kate McLoughlin | Composer Jonathan Dove talks to Kate McLoughlin about commemorating through music and music’s power to make us remember in the wake of individual and mass loss. | Jonathan Dove, Kate McLoughlin | 18 Jun 2018 | |
| 2 | Interview with Dr Peter Grant | Peter Grant talks to Johana Musalkova and Rita Phillips about the link between collective memory and popular music, exploring examples of artists who attempt to challenge dominant national narratives. | Peter Grant, Johana Musalkova, Rita Phillips | 18 Jun 2018 | |
| 3 | Laura Hassler speaks to Kate McLoughlin | Laura Hassler, Founding Director of Musicians without Borders, talks to Kate McLoughlin about her vision for the organisation and music’s potential in giving voice, recognition and empowerment to post-conflict communities. | Laura Hassler, Kate McLoughlin | 18 Jun 2018 | |
| 4 | Rihab Azar speaks to Niall Munro | Musician Rihab Azar talks to Niall Munro about her quest to find new ways of empowering and connecting communities through music and how music functions as a ‘resistance act’ in situations of (post-)conflict. | Rihab Azar, Niall Munro | 18 Jun 2018 | |
| 5 | Rihab Azar – Oud Performance | Syrian musician Rihab Azar gives a short performance at the Music and Memory workshop. | Rihab Azar | 25 May 2018 | |
| 6 | Music and Memory: Panel-led Workshop 1 | This workshop brought together musicians and scholars to elicit the distinct contribution of music – as opposed to silence and non-musical sound – to commemoration and healing. | Kate Kennedy, Peter Grant, Laura Hassler, Rihab Azar | 21 May 2018 | |
| 7 | Music and Memory: Jonathan Dove in Conversation with Kate Kennedy | Award-winning composer Jonathan Dove talks to Dr Kate Kennedy about the relationship of his music to war and remembrance. | Jonathan Dove, Kate Kennedy | 21 May 2018 | |
| 8 | The Very Revd John Witcombe speaks to Rita Phillips | The Very Reverend John Witcombe, Dean of Coventry Cathedral, talks to Rita Phillips. | John Witcombe, Rita Phillips | 24 Apr 2018 | |
| 9 | Pfarrerin Dr Cornelia Kulawik speaks to Kate McLoughlin | Pfarrerin Dr Cornelia Kulawik, Pastor of Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Berlin-Dahlem, and Professor Kate McLoughlin. | Cornelia Kulawik, Kate McLoughlin | 24 Apr 2018 | |
| 10 | Silke Arnold-de Simine speaks to Catherine Gilbert | Dr Silke Arnold-de Simine talks to Dr Catherine Gilbert about new forms of testimony, the limits of empathy and the need to understand processes of exclusion and dehumanisation. | Silke Arnold-de Simine, Catherine Gilbert | 24 Apr 2018 | |
| 11 | Charles Gurrey speaks to Niall Munro | Sculptor and carver Charles Gurrey talks to Niall Munro about the importance of context, text and material in his design of commemorative sculptures. | Charles Gurrey, Niall Munro | 24 Apr 2018 | |
| 12 | Grave Stones: Panel-led Workshop 2 | This workshop explored the significance of plastic commemoration, both sacred and secular, focusing on places of worship, funerary sites and sculpture, and memorial monuments. | Cornelia Kulawik, John Witcombe, Silke Arnold-de Simine, Charles Gurrey | 28 Mar 2018 | |
| 13 | Daniel Libeskind speaks to Niall Munro | Architect Daniel Libeskind talks to Niall Munro about civic responsibility, the shock of memory and the role of the monument as a bridge between the past and the future. | Daniel Libeskind, Niall Munro | 28 Mar 2018 | |
| 14 | Mark Johnston speaks to Alex Donnelly | Mark Johnston talks to Alex Donnelly about the work of the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum and the importance of an arts engagement approach to commemoration in improving the well-being of veterans and their families. | Mark Johnston, Alex Donnelly | 28 Mar 2018 | |
| 15 | Jane Potter speaks to Kate McLoughlin | Dr Jane Potter, Reader in Arts at Oxford Brookes University, talks to Kate McLoughlin about textual and material commemorative cultures and the central role of words and language in the reconstruction and renegotiation of memory. | Jane Potter, Kate McLoughlin | 28 Mar 2018 | |
| 16 | Chrissie Steenkamp speaks to Johana Musalkova | Dr Chrissie Steenkamp, Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Change at Oxford Brookes University, talks to Johana Musalkova. | Chrissie Steenkamp, Johana Musalkova | 28 Mar 2018 | |
| 17 | Gabe Moshenska speaks to Rita Phillips | Archaeologist Dr Gabe Moshenska talks to Rita Phillips about democratic forms of commemoration and the public responsibility of researchers in empowering people to take control of their own narratives, history and heritage. | Gabe Moshenska, Rita Phillips | 28 Mar 2018 | |
| 18 | Emma Login speaks to Dahmicca Wright | Dr Emma Login talks to poet-in-residence Dahmicca Wright about Historic England's First World War Memorials Programme, 'memorial mania', and the recent shift from community-based to national forms of remembrance. | Emma Login, Dahmicca Wright | 28 Mar 2018 | |
| 19 | Tony Horwitz speaks to Niall Munro | Author and journalist Tony Horwitz talks to Niall Munro about the sesquicentennial commemorations of the American Civil War, the complexity of reconstruction in the American South, and re-enactment as a way of connecting with the past. | Tony Horwitz, Niall Munro | 28 Mar 2018 | |
| 20 | Museums and National Identity: Panel-led Workshop 1 | This workshop explored the role of museums and memorial sites, drawing cross-cultural comparisons and investigating the relationship between post-war commemoration and national identity. | Mark Johnston, Emma Login, Christina Steenkamp, Gabriel Moshenska | 02 Mar 2018 | |
| 21 | Daniel Libeskind: Architecture and Memory | In this lecture, architect Daniel Libeskind shares his creative process and thinking for many of his most prominent buildings including the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Military History Museum in Dresden. | Daniel Libeskind | 26 Feb 2018 | |
| 22 | Harvey Whitehouse speaks to Alex Donnelly and Johana Musalkova | Harvey Whitehouse, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford, talks to Alex Donnelly and Johana Musalkova about shared responses to experiences of suffering and the potential role of commemoration in achieving social cohesion. | Harvey Whitehouse, Alex Donnelly, Johana Musalkova | 12 Dec 2017 | |
| 23 | Rachel Seiffert speaks to Catherine Gilbert | Novelist Rachel Seiffert talks to Dr Catherine Gilbert about the ritual of memory and the possibilities of fiction as a response to a difficult past. | Rachel Seiffert, Catherine Gilbert | 08 Dec 2017 | |
| 24 | Lyndsey Stonebridge speaks to Rita Phillips | Lyndsey Stonebridge, Professor of Modern Literature and History at the University of East Anglia, talks to Rita Phillips about literary humanitarianism and the ethics of empathy. | Lyndsey Stonebridge, Rita Phillips | 08 Dec 2017 | |
| 25 | Elleke Boehmer speaks to Kate McLoughlin | Elleke Boehmer talks to Kate McLoughlin about her most recent novel, The Shouting in the Dark, the language of reconciliation in South Africa, and the creative potential for both the work of fiction and the work of literary criticism. | Elleke Boehmer, Kate McLoughlin | 08 Dec 2017 | |
| 26 | Conflict and Community: Panel-led Workshop 2 | Mobilising the wide-ranging expertise of the speakers, this workshop explored questions of narrative, community and the special commemorative needs that arise in the wake of civil war and terrorism. | Rachel Seiffert, Lyndsey Stonebridge, Harvey Whitehouse, Helen Small | 24 Nov 2017 | |
| 27 | Interview with Lord John Alderdice | Lord John Alderdice (Liberal Democrat peer and Director of the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (CRIC)) talks to Johana Musalkova and Rita Phillips about poetry, peace processes and the challenges of creating positive commemoration. | Lord John Alderdice, Johana Musalkova, Rita Phillips | 20 Nov 2017 | |
| 28 | Jeremy Treglown speaks to Alex Donnelly | Professor Jeremy Treglown and Alex Donnelly discuss the politics of commemoration and the challenges of remembrance for both veterans and civilians. | Jeremy Treglown, Alex Donnelly | 21 Nov 2017 | |
| 29 | Dunya Mikhail speaks to Alex Donnelly | Iraqi-American poet Dunya Mikhail talks to Alex Donnelly about commemoration, reconnection and poetry as ‘a museum of feeling’. | Dunya Mikhail, Alex Donnelly | 21 Nov 2017 | |
| 30 | Philippe Sands speaks to Kate McLoughlin | Philippe Sands, QC, international human rights lawyer and author of East West Street, talks to Kate McLoughlin about the law-court as a place of commemoration and what he came to understand outside the city of Lviv. | Philippe Sands, Kate McLoughlin | 21 Nov 2017 | |
| 31 | Aminatta Forna speaks to Catherine Gilbert | Aminatta Forna OBE, author of The Devil that Danced on the Water, talks to Dr Catherine Gilbert about silence, narrative and resilience in Sierra Leone. | Aminatta Forna, Catherine Gilbert | 21 Nov 2017 | |
| 32 | Poetry and Life-Writing: Panel-Led Workshop 1 | Bringing together experts working at the intersection of literature, human rights, foreign policy and peace initiatives, this workshop explored the role of poetry and life-writing in post-war healing. | Dunya Mikhail, Philippe Sands, Lord John Alderdice, Jeremy Treglown | 21 Nov 2017 | |
| 33 | Memoir and Memory: Aminatta Forna in Conversation with Elleke Boehmer | Launch event for the Mellon-Sawyer Seminar Series. Aminatta Forna, OBE (novelist and memoirist, Lannan Visiting Professor of Poetics at Georgetown University) in conversation with Elleke Boehmer (Professor of World Literature in English, Oxford). | Aminatta Forna, Elleke Boehmer | 20 Nov 2017 |