Andrea Hajek, PhD
Academic editor and translator (Italian > English) in the Humanities and Social Sciences / Correttrice e traduttrice accademica in area umanistica e sociologica.
For information and quotes / Per info e preventivi: https://youreditingalternative.com/
I obtained my undergraduate and MA degrees at the University of Utrecht (French, Comparative Literature and Italian), before joining the University of Warwick (UK) to pursue a doctoral degree in Italian. In 2010 I concluded my thesis on the public memory of Italian student protests in the late 1970s, after which I held an Early Career Fellowship at the Warwick Institute of Advanced Study, and two Visiting Fellowships at the University of London and at the University of Utrecht. Between 2013 and 2016 I was a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the University of Glasgow (UK). My postdoctoral project explored the history and memory of second-wave feminism in Italy, drawing predominantly on oral history data and archival material.
I have published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals. I have (co-)edited four special issues and the volume 'Memory in a Mediated World: Remembrance and Reconstruction' (2015). My monograph, entitled 'Negotiating Memories of Protest in Western Europe. The Case of Italy', was published in 2013.
For information and quotes / Per info e preventivi: https://youreditingalternative.com/
I obtained my undergraduate and MA degrees at the University of Utrecht (French, Comparative Literature and Italian), before joining the University of Warwick (UK) to pursue a doctoral degree in Italian. In 2010 I concluded my thesis on the public memory of Italian student protests in the late 1970s, after which I held an Early Career Fellowship at the Warwick Institute of Advanced Study, and two Visiting Fellowships at the University of London and at the University of Utrecht. Between 2013 and 2016 I was a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at the University of Glasgow (UK). My postdoctoral project explored the history and memory of second-wave feminism in Italy, drawing predominantly on oral history data and archival material.
I have published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals. I have (co-)edited four special issues and the volume 'Memory in a Mediated World: Remembrance and Reconstruction' (2015). My monograph, entitled 'Negotiating Memories of Protest in Western Europe. The Case of Italy', was published in 2013.
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Books
1 - 'Years of lead'? Political violence in perspective
2 - 'Wonderful years'? Myth, nostalgia and authority
3 - The trauma of 1977
4 - Affective labour: Between mourning and moral duty
5 - Seeking consensus: Political uses of the past
6 - Rebuilding group identities on the far left
7 - Memory sites: Negotiating protest in urban space
Conclusion: Trappen in private spaces"
Chapter 1 - ‘Years of lead’? Political Violence in Perspective
This chapter contains a brief historical overview of the most important political, economical and social transformations in the late 1960s and 1970s, and their impact on the development of a new political subject in Italy and Germany as opposed to France and Great Britain, where the 1968 ‘momentum’ had a more limited reach. It provides an account of contentious politics in those years and challenges dominant, ‘condemning’ memories of the 1970s in Germany and Italy, where this period is also known as the ‘years of lead’. The chapter analyzes the origins of this notion, its application, and its emphasis on narratives of victimhood and trauma. It thus identifies strategies of selection and omission in the creation of a national history of the 1970s.
Chapter 2 - ‘Wonderful years’? Myth, Nostalgia and Possessive Memory
The analysis of the difficult historicization of the late 1960s and 1970s is continued in Chapter 2, which focuses on the celebratory memory of the protests of 1968, their reception, and the (de)construction of their myth. It thus investigates activists’ difficult relationship with traditional historiography, their nostalgic and ‘possessive’ memory of this past and the consequences of this attitude for contemporary research(ers) of protest in Europe. In addition to the historical ‘silences’ identified in the first chapter, this second chapter then addresses individual and collective silences in the history of these social movements. In doing so it reflects upon the value of oral history methodology in the creation of a more inclusive and complete history of European social movements in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Chapter 3 - The Trauma of 1977
The third chapter explores the origins and composition of the 1977 student movement in Italy. It outlines the specific characteristics of the ‘Movement of ’77’ and provides a brief historical outline of the political and social situation of Bologna in the mid-1970s. This helps explain the traumatic impact of the incidents that occurred on and after 11 March 1977, when student and activist Francesco Lorusso was shot dead by a police officer during riots in the university zone. A discursive and visual analysis of the local press and news reports on national television demonstrates how the public memory of these incidents was shaped at the time, and to what extent we may speak of a ‘traumatic’ memory of 1977.
Chapter 4 - Mourning and Moral Duty. The Affective Labour of Victims’ Families
This is the first of three chapters that zoom in on one specific memory community and its attempts to negotiate a memory of Lorusso in the public sphere, in the 30 years following the incidents of 1977 in Bologna. It examines processes of ‘affective labour’, i.e. the relation between Lorusso’s family and the families of victims of terrorism in 1970s Italy, who often gathered in victims’ family associations. It demonstrates how Lorusso’s difficult victim status affected his family’s authority as a memory agent, forcing it to develop a variety of strategies to renegotiate his person in the public sphere. It also analyzes the family’s role in the annual commemoration on March 11th, and its interaction with relatives of other victims of ‘state’ violence.
Chapter 5 - Political Uses of the Past. The Official Memory of 1977
This chapter explores the implications of the incidents of 1977 for local politics: it demonstrates how difficult memories of political violence are (re)used and manipulated in an attempt to (re)gain a political electorate. It focuses on the historical left in Bologna, primarily the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and its political heirs in the 1990s-2000s, the way the PCI re-interpreted the events of 1977 in subsequent years, and the historical context which determined these re-interpretations. Next, it discusses the role of other local politicians, political parties and the University in negotiations of Lorusso’s public memory. The chapter is particularly concerned with debates about anniversaries, proposed memory sites and the general question whether Lorusso should be remembered at all, and how he should be remembered.
Chapter 6 - Rebuilding Group Identities to the Far Left
This chapter focuses on the alternative left-wing milieu. It provides a brief history of an alternative commemorative march which served as a ‘counter-memory’ of both the incidents of March 1977 and other incidents of political violence in and beyond the 1970s. It thus examines the meaning Lorusso’s life was given by the various subgroups of the former student movement. It also explores the concessions and compromises his companions made in order to give his memory visibility in the public sphere. Finally, it shows that Lorusso’s death is not an exclusive memory of the 1977 generation. The chapter then provides insight into the relationship between death and identity formation, emotions and protest, the tensions between heroism and victimhood, and the concept of generational memory.
Chapter 7 - Memory Sites: the Negotiation of Protest in the Urban Space
The book concludes with an exploration of the memory sites that were proposed, debated or created in order to commemorate the incidents of March 1977, and Lorusso’s person. Drawing on the concept of grassroots memorials, the chapter centers around two contradictory sites of memory: a commemorative plaque placed by Lorusso's friends and family, which - in spite of the conventional form - represents a highly spontaneous, critical and ‘fragmented’ form of commemoration; a public garden dedicated to Lorusso in the 1990s by the local administration. The chapter explores debates about difficult memories and how these were negotiated in the public sphere, and promotes a more general discussion about the role of memory sites in the creation of shared memory discourses and reconciliation processes.
Articles
Oltre a creare memorie più condivisibili e condivise, le immagini trasmesse dai media prendono anche forma nella mediazione del passato che ha luogo in questa trasmissione. Ovverossia, l'atto di conservare, presentare e condividere dati visivi può influenzare il modo in cui il passato è ricordato e le identità passate vengono ricostruite nel presente. In effetti, la memoria e i media si formano a vicenda, soprattutto nell'era del digitale, dove le nuove tecnologie hanno provocato una «esplosione globale della partecipazione pubblica », stimolando una produzione più auto-riflessiva di memoria.
Questo saggio analizza il processo di condivisione di immagini fotografiche in rete, in relazione al movimento studentesco degli anni '70 nella città di Bologna. Più precisamente, si indaga su una serie di album fotografici che il fotografo Enrico Scuro ha caricato - all'inizio del 2011 - sul social network Facebook, guadagnandosi il nome di «biografo visivo di una generazione». In seguito a questa iniziativa, i settantasettini hanno ricostruito, in rete, le loro memorie individuali e collettive di questi anni, lasciando commenti e taggandosi en masse nelle varie fotografie. Partendo da teorie sulla memoria collettiva e culturale, il saggio esaminerà come primo punto il tipo di fotografie che Scuro ha selezionato per ciò che vorrei definire un "album di famiglia"; come le ha ordinate; e quali sono state le reazioni da parte degli utenti. In secondo luogo, si cercherà di capire il significato di questi album nella ricostruzione, 35 anni dopo, di un'identità collettiva per gli ex protagonisti del "Movimento del '77" a Bologna. Quant'è importante la nostalgia in queste rievocazioni del passato, e quanto influisce sul senso di appartenenza il fatto che le fotografie siano digitali piuttosto che analogiche? Quest'ultimo punto verrà discusso anche in relazione alla pubblicazione, nel dicembre del 2011, di una selezione delle fotografie in forma cartacea.
1 - 'Years of lead'? Political violence in perspective
2 - 'Wonderful years'? Myth, nostalgia and authority
3 - The trauma of 1977
4 - Affective labour: Between mourning and moral duty
5 - Seeking consensus: Political uses of the past
6 - Rebuilding group identities on the far left
7 - Memory sites: Negotiating protest in urban space
Conclusion: Trappen in private spaces"
Chapter 1 - ‘Years of lead’? Political Violence in Perspective
This chapter contains a brief historical overview of the most important political, economical and social transformations in the late 1960s and 1970s, and their impact on the development of a new political subject in Italy and Germany as opposed to France and Great Britain, where the 1968 ‘momentum’ had a more limited reach. It provides an account of contentious politics in those years and challenges dominant, ‘condemning’ memories of the 1970s in Germany and Italy, where this period is also known as the ‘years of lead’. The chapter analyzes the origins of this notion, its application, and its emphasis on narratives of victimhood and trauma. It thus identifies strategies of selection and omission in the creation of a national history of the 1970s.
Chapter 2 - ‘Wonderful years’? Myth, Nostalgia and Possessive Memory
The analysis of the difficult historicization of the late 1960s and 1970s is continued in Chapter 2, which focuses on the celebratory memory of the protests of 1968, their reception, and the (de)construction of their myth. It thus investigates activists’ difficult relationship with traditional historiography, their nostalgic and ‘possessive’ memory of this past and the consequences of this attitude for contemporary research(ers) of protest in Europe. In addition to the historical ‘silences’ identified in the first chapter, this second chapter then addresses individual and collective silences in the history of these social movements. In doing so it reflects upon the value of oral history methodology in the creation of a more inclusive and complete history of European social movements in the late 1960s and 1970s.
Chapter 3 - The Trauma of 1977
The third chapter explores the origins and composition of the 1977 student movement in Italy. It outlines the specific characteristics of the ‘Movement of ’77’ and provides a brief historical outline of the political and social situation of Bologna in the mid-1970s. This helps explain the traumatic impact of the incidents that occurred on and after 11 March 1977, when student and activist Francesco Lorusso was shot dead by a police officer during riots in the university zone. A discursive and visual analysis of the local press and news reports on national television demonstrates how the public memory of these incidents was shaped at the time, and to what extent we may speak of a ‘traumatic’ memory of 1977.
Chapter 4 - Mourning and Moral Duty. The Affective Labour of Victims’ Families
This is the first of three chapters that zoom in on one specific memory community and its attempts to negotiate a memory of Lorusso in the public sphere, in the 30 years following the incidents of 1977 in Bologna. It examines processes of ‘affective labour’, i.e. the relation between Lorusso’s family and the families of victims of terrorism in 1970s Italy, who often gathered in victims’ family associations. It demonstrates how Lorusso’s difficult victim status affected his family’s authority as a memory agent, forcing it to develop a variety of strategies to renegotiate his person in the public sphere. It also analyzes the family’s role in the annual commemoration on March 11th, and its interaction with relatives of other victims of ‘state’ violence.
Chapter 5 - Political Uses of the Past. The Official Memory of 1977
This chapter explores the implications of the incidents of 1977 for local politics: it demonstrates how difficult memories of political violence are (re)used and manipulated in an attempt to (re)gain a political electorate. It focuses on the historical left in Bologna, primarily the Italian Communist Party (PCI) and its political heirs in the 1990s-2000s, the way the PCI re-interpreted the events of 1977 in subsequent years, and the historical context which determined these re-interpretations. Next, it discusses the role of other local politicians, political parties and the University in negotiations of Lorusso’s public memory. The chapter is particularly concerned with debates about anniversaries, proposed memory sites and the general question whether Lorusso should be remembered at all, and how he should be remembered.
Chapter 6 - Rebuilding Group Identities to the Far Left
This chapter focuses on the alternative left-wing milieu. It provides a brief history of an alternative commemorative march which served as a ‘counter-memory’ of both the incidents of March 1977 and other incidents of political violence in and beyond the 1970s. It thus examines the meaning Lorusso’s life was given by the various subgroups of the former student movement. It also explores the concessions and compromises his companions made in order to give his memory visibility in the public sphere. Finally, it shows that Lorusso’s death is not an exclusive memory of the 1977 generation. The chapter then provides insight into the relationship between death and identity formation, emotions and protest, the tensions between heroism and victimhood, and the concept of generational memory.
Chapter 7 - Memory Sites: the Negotiation of Protest in the Urban Space
The book concludes with an exploration of the memory sites that were proposed, debated or created in order to commemorate the incidents of March 1977, and Lorusso’s person. Drawing on the concept of grassroots memorials, the chapter centers around two contradictory sites of memory: a commemorative plaque placed by Lorusso's friends and family, which - in spite of the conventional form - represents a highly spontaneous, critical and ‘fragmented’ form of commemoration; a public garden dedicated to Lorusso in the 1990s by the local administration. The chapter explores debates about difficult memories and how these were negotiated in the public sphere, and promotes a more general discussion about the role of memory sites in the creation of shared memory discourses and reconciliation processes.
Oltre a creare memorie più condivisibili e condivise, le immagini trasmesse dai media prendono anche forma nella mediazione del passato che ha luogo in questa trasmissione. Ovverossia, l'atto di conservare, presentare e condividere dati visivi può influenzare il modo in cui il passato è ricordato e le identità passate vengono ricostruite nel presente. In effetti, la memoria e i media si formano a vicenda, soprattutto nell'era del digitale, dove le nuove tecnologie hanno provocato una «esplosione globale della partecipazione pubblica », stimolando una produzione più auto-riflessiva di memoria.
Questo saggio analizza il processo di condivisione di immagini fotografiche in rete, in relazione al movimento studentesco degli anni '70 nella città di Bologna. Più precisamente, si indaga su una serie di album fotografici che il fotografo Enrico Scuro ha caricato - all'inizio del 2011 - sul social network Facebook, guadagnandosi il nome di «biografo visivo di una generazione». In seguito a questa iniziativa, i settantasettini hanno ricostruito, in rete, le loro memorie individuali e collettive di questi anni, lasciando commenti e taggandosi en masse nelle varie fotografie. Partendo da teorie sulla memoria collettiva e culturale, il saggio esaminerà come primo punto il tipo di fotografie che Scuro ha selezionato per ciò che vorrei definire un "album di famiglia"; come le ha ordinate; e quali sono state le reazioni da parte degli utenti. In secondo luogo, si cercherà di capire il significato di questi album nella ricostruzione, 35 anni dopo, di un'identità collettiva per gli ex protagonisti del "Movimento del '77" a Bologna. Quant'è importante la nostalgia in queste rievocazioni del passato, e quanto influisce sul senso di appartenenza il fatto che le fotografie siano digitali piuttosto che analogiche? Quest'ultimo punto verrà discusso anche in relazione alla pubblicazione, nel dicembre del 2011, di una selezione delle fotografie in forma cartacea.
What does feminism mean in the present day, and to what extent is the current attitude towards feminism different from the way feminism has been seen in the past? What are the legacies of second-wave feminism and what can we still learn from it today? Are younger generations of women aware of the persistence of sexism, sexual violence and gender inequality, and can feminism be useful in tackling these issues?
This workshop brings together academics, activists and professionals engaged in battles for women’s rights and against gender discrimination, sexism and sexual violence, as well as women from the local community. It aims to explore current attitudes towards feminism and its legacy in the present, and promote discussions about the role feminism can play in the struggle for a more equal and less sexist society.
University College Dublin
Despite having been viewed as inherently speaking of the powerlessness and passivity characterising those who claimed it, the status of victim is currently coveted by almost anyone and everyone who can lay claim to having experienced – or suffered the loss of a loved one due to – some kind of limit-event. In recognising the extent to which the Italian and Spanish public discourses have been affected by this worrying phenomenon, historian Giovanni De Luna has drawn attention to the question of the ‘privatisation’ of public memory and the implications that a focus on one’s dolore has for the articulation of an official interpretation of the national past (De Luna, 2011: 14-15).
Evidently, there is much to be feared in a world ostensibly full of victims struggling for primacy and media visibility, and the symposium described below will explore some of the implications of victim proliferation and victim-based discourse in relation to a series of case studies drawing on Italian and Spanish twentieth century history and its impact on literary
works produced in both countries.