International Congress Memory, legacy and presence in the public and media space: historical fascism and the radical right in the 20th and 21st centuries

Venue: Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto (FLUP)

Date: 26th and 27th September 2024

Promoter: Centre for Transdisciplinary Research on Culture, Space and Memory (CITCEM)

Call for Papers:

The progressive weakening of the memory and symbolic capital of the resistance to the fascisms that dominated several European states between 1922 and 1975 and the resurgence and electoral rise of the radical, populist and post-fascist right from the turn of the 20th century into the 21st, have summoned and concentrated public, media and political reflection and attention. While in Europe, until the 1970s (a phenomenon that was more widespread in Portugal and Spain as a result of the late overthrow of their dictatorships), the figure of the resistant was central to the politics of memory about the authoritarian and fascist past, the truth is that public narratives about the recent past have been promoting a conciliatory view of national history.

It is in this context that the project “A Necessary Past: Remembering Solidarity and Resistance against Authoritarianism in Europe” (SolRem) was formulated, bringing together organisations from Spain, Finland, Italy, Portugal and Romania to evoke and activate memories related to the resistance against fascism and to promote the values of freedom, equality, anti-racism and anti-xenophobia. Funded by the European Union under the European Programme Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV), SolRem has been organising a series of national and transnational workshops and memory forums related to the memory of various types of resistance: Jewish and Roma resistance to Nazi-fascism; to corporatism as a specific form of labour exploitation; to the elimination of trade union freedom and freedom of expression; to the favouring of agricultural, industrial and financial capital, as well as claiming the rights of women and ethnic minorities in the countries that make up the consortium.

In addition to the activities aimed at the community and the project’s partners – associations and organisations involved in preserving the memory of the resistance against the fascist dictatorships of the 20th century, defending the rights of women, ethnic, religious and migrant minorities, and promoting democratic values and the rule of law – SolRem also prioritises scientific work in the fields in question. It is in this context that the International Congress “Memory, legacy and presence in the public and media space: historical fascism and the radical right in the 20th and 21st centuries” which focuses directly on the project’s theme, aims to analyse the fascist, neo-fascist and post-fascist programme from its formation to the present day, as well as the policies of memorialising this past – from the celebration of the anti-fascist legacy to the whitewashing of these regimes, silencing their victims and those who, in the present, seek to draw attention to the atrocities perpetrated by the extreme right in the past and today.

Organised by CITCEM – Centre for Transdisciplinary Research Culture, Space & Memory, of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto, this conference aims to contribute to the deepening of the reflection and to an open, transversal and multidisciplinary scientific debate on the various aspects that characterise the rise and political-electoral consecration of post-fascism in the West, from the perspectives of History, Sociology, Philosophy, Political Science, Communication Sciences, Law, Cultural and Literary Studies, Heritage and Visual Culture.

To this end, we call for proposals that fall under the following thematic axes:

– Memory, discourse and representation of solidarity and anti-fascist resistance;
– Theoretical and conceptual reflection on fascism, neo-fascism and post-fascism;
– Historiography of the radical right, historical rewriting and rehabilitation of fascist experiences and dictatorships;
– Fascisms and neo-fascisms in post-war history: ideas, experiences, paths, organisations and power;
– Fascist regimes in the 20th century;
– The relationship of fascisms, neo-fascisms and post-fascisms with culture, education, art, literature and science;
– Ultra-right, radical right, national-populism and post-fascism: the extreme right in the 21st century 
– discourse, principles, values, strategy and upsurge; 
– The rise of the post-fascist right, the media and the internet
– National-populism: historical continuity(ies), identity discourses, racism, xenophobia, “criminalisation” of migrants and neo-colonialism

Organising Committee:Ana Catarina Caldeira (ICNova) Andreia Nunes (ICS-UM) Bruno Madeira (CITCEM; ICS-UM; Lab2PT/In2Past) Conceição Meireles Pereira (CITCEM/UP) Hugo Barreira (CITCEM/UP) Sara Trindade (CITCEM/UP) 

Scientific Committee: António Costa Pinto (ICS/ISCTE) Fátima Moura Ferreira (Lab2PT/In2Past; ICS-UM) Gaspar Martins Pereira José Neves (IHC/In2Past;Nova) Manuel Loff (IHC/In2Past; FLUP) Steven Forti (CEDID/UAB) Virgílio Borges Pereira (IS-UP; FLUP)

Deadlines for registration and submission of proposals: Submission of communication proposals: 30 April 2024
Evaluation of proposals by reviewers: 14 June 2024
Response to proposers: 17 June 2024
Final registration: 31 July 2024

26-27 September 2024 (Congress)

Registration fees*:CITCEM members and participants with communication – compulsory and free registration (until 13 September 2024)
Other participants without communication: until 31 July 2024 – 30€; between 1 August and 25 September 2024 – 60€
Students: €20
Free attendance (without access to documentation and coffee breaks)* Includes documentation and coffee breaks

Participation certificates will not be issued to anyone not attending the Congress.
Possibility of attendance and participation online.

Languages:Portuguese, Spanish, English, Italian and French

Contacts:Tel: 226077177 | e-mail: neofascismoedireitasradicais@gmail.com | citcem@letras.up.pt