Memories, Identities and Narratives of Europe

The narrative turn in the social sciences has also had an impact on the study of the construction of identities and memory in the European Union as well as on the integration process itself. The recent interest in the construction of a European identity pushed us to look to the ways in which the European Union has or may become a ‘normal’ form of governing or, on the contrary, this construction still clashes with national memories, narratives and identities. Particularly after the 2004 enlargement, ‘memory politics’ gained greater visibility in EU politics, prompted by debates on diverging interpretations of the past and concomitant debates on recognition. These debates intersect with narratives of the EU and its mission and with conceptions of European identity. This section aims at examining the role that memory and narratives play in EU politics and policies. By ‘memory’ it is meant both the EU attempt to root policies and politics on its own past as well as the struggles of member states and/or specific constituencies to insert their own memory experiences at the EU level. ‘Narratives’ refer to the discourses constructed by actors (at both national, subnational and EU level), such as the EU Commission sponsored New Narrative for Europe or the New Schumann Declaration (2015), justifying (or, conversely, undermining) the EU and its very role. The third dimension of this section refers to EU ‘identity’ and its relation with EU citizenship and/or national citizenship. We invite proposals of panels and papers that explore the ways in which Europe has been constructed through the use of memory, identity and/or narrative. Contributions can be conceptual and exploratory, looking for ways in which we might understand the role and construction of memory, identity and/or narratives, as well as empirical in focus.