LIMS lunch seminars 2026. Memoryscapes. Antiquity and Today

After three successful multidisciplinary editions, the LIMS lunch seminars are being updated and take on a thematic format. The theme chosen for 2026 is the relationship between memory and space, in both its historical and literary aspects.

Memoryscape is not a trendy neologism. The intersection of memory and space, and the respective streams of study dedicated to them, has indeed proven extremely productive from an interpretive perspective in historical, sociological, and literary research, across a wide range of chronological and geographical contexts. How is space used and semanticized by groups, communities, and societies engaged in commemorative practices? How, in other words, does a memoryscape arise? Is it sufficient to place a monument in a certain location, or is it necessary to activate a series of semantic relationships between the monumentalized space and its agents? And what degree of agency do groups possess in defining and activating these relationships? What specific symbolic and symbolic-identity functions do commemorative practices that occupy a space and imply a spatial dimension fulfill? How do groups relate to pre-existing memorial landscapes? How do they transform them? What avenues of action are available in the event of a failure to recognize and challenge previous memoryscapes (read: cancel culture and the like)? What narratives are associated with space, and what role do they play in it? Is it purely descriptive, or also constructive and transformative? And what role do mnemospatial dynamics play in literature?

The seminar series is held in collaboration with the 2023-2027 SiGrH – Sites of Greek History Excellence Project (led by Giorgia Proietti, https://www.lettere.unitn.it/3520/sigrh-sites-of-greek-history-monuments-spaces-borders-i-luoghi-della-storia-greca-monumenti)

All meetings take place at 10:00 a.m., in person, in the Piscopia Room on the 4th floor of Palazzo Prodi, Department of Humanities, and are open to colleagues, doctoral students, and undergraduates.