Carlos Reijnen, born in Grathem, Netherlands, in 1975. Ph.D. from Leiden University. Assistant Professor of European Studies at University of Amsterdam.
Fellow (1 September 2012 – 31 January 2013)
Displaced Pasts and Islands of Memory. A Spatial Approach to the Communist and National-Socialist Past in Central and Eastern Europe
This project wishes to explore the potentials of spatial theory for memory studies. It studies different traditions of exclusion and inclusion of the communist and fascist past into narratives of national memory, in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Space is a crucial component in the construction of these memories. For example, some of the central memorial sites for communism are not framed as authentic spaces (such as concentration camps), but rather decontextualize communist history (for instance, by relocating statues). Other sites (camps, museums for communism) can be considered islands of Western or West-European memory in the East. Of particular importance in this project is how these forms of spatial representation of terror result in different narratives of the position of the Polish, Slovak and Czech past within European history. The project is part of a monograph about the reinvention of the East from the decline of the Cold War to the present.
Selected Publications
Carlos Reijnen, Op de drempel van Europa. De Tsjechen en Europa in de twintigste eeuw. (Kampen 2005).
Carlos Reijnen, ‘A Castle in the Center. The First Czechoslovak Republic and European Cooperation (1918-1938)’ In: Rebecka Lettevall, Geert Somsen & Sven Widmalm (Eds.), Neutrality in Twentieth-Century Europe. Intersections of Science, Culture, and Politics after the First World War. Routledge Series in Cultural History (Basingstoke 2012) 181-206.
Carlos Reijnen, ‘De grenzen van het woord: over tijdschriften, dissidenten en de Europese culturele ruimte’ TS: Tijdschrift voor Tijdschriftstudies 29/30 (2011) 70-84.