MemoryLab aims to explore the most recent opportunities offered by memory studies in terms of:
This results in a close correlation between research and empirical investigation.
MemoryLab will adopt a specific policy of interdisciplinarity and make use of the Department's multiple skills. The aim is to enhance and converge existing lines of research engaged in the critical understanding of processes, narratives and practices which define and control contested territories of memory and partake in the valorization of cultural heritage.
The adoption of a sound multidisciplinary approach and transdisciplinary dialogue will be complemented by the method of intersection between 'discliplinary' sets. The fact that different disciplines have contributed and continue to contribute differentially to memory studies will be taken into account.
The plurality of approaches and methods thus presupposes a strong collaboration between the disciplines involved.
MemoryLab - welcoming suggestions from critical memory studies - will bring attention to distinct traditions or experiences of memory studies (individual or collective, social, political or cultural) also in terms of national and territorial context, historical and geographical reality, and place.
A key aspect will be the relationship of memory with public discourse, questioning in particular the problems posed by the growing elaboration of forms of 'non-hereditary memory' of communities.
In a reality such as today's, in which memories are increasingly conflicting, reflection on the legacies of trauma (war and violence, calamities and scourges, rejection and disorientation, etc.) and the potential of performative and transcultural memory will also be essential.