“Europe Year Zero: from Gated memories to Intercultural Reconciliation”

A conference promoted by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Toronto, in collaboration with: the European Union Centre of Excellence (EUCE) at the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, university of Toronto; the University of Bologna; the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies at York Univesity, and with the supporto of EUNIC in Canada. The themes of memory studies and the problem of identity were addressed by invited speakers: Prof. Julia Creet, Prof. Shelley Hornstein; Prof. Andreas Ktzmann, Dr Elena Lamberti, Prof Claudio Magris. in a time of global migrations after 20th century wars, how does cultural memory strenghten or undermine social and political coehesion. The points of departure for this discussion were two books: "Memories and Reprsentations of War: The Case of World War I and World War II" ( E. Lamberti, V. Fortunati, eds, New York/Aserdam, Rodopoi 2009) and "Memory and Migration - Mutidisciplinary Approaches to Memory Studies" /J Creet, A. Kitmann eds, Toronto, University of toronto Press, 2010). Both collections of essays explore the complex cultural identity/ies of the peoples of Canada and the European Union member states and the bonds between the two political entities thrugh individual, institutional and artistic expressions of cultural memory