"The Place of Memory and the Memory of Place" International Conference

Memory is central to contemporary life and serves as a key to personal, social and cultural identity. Scholars from diverse disciplines — philosophy, sociology, anthropology, geography, architecture, psychology, literature and the interdisciplinary field of "place studies" — have explored memory and its intersections with place. Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux de mémoire (places of memory) describes sites where "memory crystallises and secretes itself," emerging through the interplay of memory and history. These sites can be material, symbolic, or functional — or a combination of all three — and embody the essence of collective memory.

Memory is central to contemporary life and serves as a key to personal, social and cultural identity. Scholars from diverse disciplines — philosophy, sociology, anthropology, geography, architecture, psychology, literature and the interdisciplinary field of "place studies" — have explored memory and its intersections with place. Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux de mémoire (places of memory) describes sites where "memory crystallises and secretes itself," emerging through the interplay of memory and history. These sites can be material, symbolic, or functional — or a combination of all three — and embody the essence of collective memory.