The Transcultural Memory of the Maghreb
Traces of Remembrance 1939-1945
DFG Funding for 2026 through 2029
The transcultural memory of the Maghreb The research project aims to comprehensively and systematically catalogue, analyze and convey a corpus of literary and autobiographical works, films and media texts relating to the events of 1939–45 that form the transcultural memory of the various groups which comprise the local population of North Africa.
This subject is of particular interest because the Second World War had a profound impact on the Maghreb, and because perspectives from this region are essential for the current debate on a globalised culture of remembrance.
New Approaches to these Inherently Transcultural Memories
However, for two reasons, this topic remains a real 'lieu d'oubli' (place of oblivion, Porra, 2015) that has not yet been addressed: local experiences of the war have neither been incorporated into official historiography of France nor of the Maghrebi nations.
The project wants to close this gap by analyzing the invisible archive within the framework of intertwined memory histories, drawing on literary, cultural and media studies. It thus builds upon foundational texts in Maghrebi literary historiography. Its aim is to first create a knowledge base for the integration of Maghrebi experiences into the global memory of the World War. It will then develop new approaches to these inherently transcultural memories, beyond Eurocentric perspectives and interpretations. The current clash of culturally heterogeneous memories in migrant societies makes this task more urgent than ever.
Team
- Project Manager of the Research Project: Prof. Dr. Claudia Gronemann
- Research Associate: Dr. Hervé Sanson
- Research Coordinator: Eva Bruckner, M.A.
- Research Assistant: Alissa Di Brino
- Collaborating Partner: Prof. Dr. (em.) Habib Kazdaghli (Professor of Contemporary History, University of La Manouba, Tunis)