Barcelona, October 17, 2024 – On October 23 and 24, 2024, the University of Barcelona will host the REMEMCHILD International Congress: Children and Women in the Memories of War, an academic event focused on examining the roles of childhood and women in collective war memories, from World War II to the present day.
Organized by the UNED and the European Observatory on Memories (EUROM) of the Fundació Solidaritat UB, this event will bring together international researchers to discuss how these often-overlooked experiences continue to influence contemporary understandings of conflict.
In addition to the congress, attendees can visit the temporary exhibition Childhood in a World at War (1939–1945) from October 22 to 30, hosted in the Historic Building of the University of Barcelona.
The congress will take place in the Aula Capella of the University of Barcelona, with simultaneous interpretation available in Catalan, Spanish, and English. For more details and to register, visit the event’s official website.
An Interdisciplinary Approach to War Memories
As part of the European project REMEMCHILD (Remembering Childhood in European Wartimes), this two-day event will explore the intersections between childhood and women’s wartime experiences, focusing on their impact on social change, gender relations, and colonial dynamics. Through three thematic panels, two keynote lectures, and a documentary screening, experts will examine how these memories have been (re)constructed throughout history and their implications for current societal narratives.
Keynote Speakers
On the first day, historian Joanna Bourke (University of London) will deliver a lecture on gender and wartime violence. Bourke, a Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, is an influential scholar whose work spans gender studies, violence, emotions, and war. Her notable publications include An Intimate History of Killing and Rape: A History from 1860 to the Present. She is widely recognized for addressing often-silenced issues like sexual violence in war and its profound societal impact. Bourke is a Fellow of the British Academy and frequently contributes critical perspectives on violence in the media.
The closing lecture will be delivered by Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas, Professor of Contemporary History at the University of Santiago de Compostela, known for his expertise in nationalism, historical memory, and European conflicts of the 20th century. Núñez Seixas is the author of numerous works on the Spanish Civil War, fascism, and memory politics in Europe, including Volver a Stalingrado: El frente del Este en la memoria europea and Guaridas del lobo: Memorias de la Europa autoritaria, 1945-2020. He is a corresponding member of the Real Academia de la Historia and has been a visiting professor at several international universities. His lecture will address the memories of European conflicts since 1945.
Program Highlights
The conference will begin on October 23 at 10:00 a.m. with an official opening by Agustí Alcoberro, Vice-Rector of Culture, Memory, and Heritage at the UB, and Julio Gonzalo Arroyo, Assistant Vice-Rector of Research and Transfer at the UNED. The first panel will explore the role of women in 20th-century social change, featuring notable scholars like María Dolores Ramos Palomo (University of Málaga) and Mònica Moreno Seco (University of Alicante).
The second panel will focus on childhood experiences during war, with contributions from Sébastien Farré (Université de Genève) and Jesús Alonso Carballés (Université Bordeaux-Montaigne). The day will conclude with Joanna Bourke’s lecture on “Cultures of Harm: Gender and the Politics of Violence in Times of War.”
On October 24, the program will begin at 10:30 a.m. with a panel discussion on gender and coloniality, featuring contributions from Cel Zaidenwerg (University of Barcelona), Teresa García Segura and Carla Andrés Bauzà (Pompeu Fabra University), and independent researcher Mayca de Castro.
In the afternoon, Xosé Manoel Núñez Seixas (University of Santiago de Compostela) will deliver the closing lecture on the memories of European conflicts since 1945. To conclude the day, Professor Nuria Ricart Ulldemolins from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Barcelona will lead a guided tour of the Memory Space of the Corts Women’s Prison.