Introduction: The Usable Pasts and Futures of Transnational European Memories

Abstract

In this introductory chapter, the editors position the volume in the field of memory studies and transnational European memory discourses by surveying and assessing the current state of scholarship in both fields. They discuss the main theoretical concepts examined in the collected chapters, including methodological nationalism, transnationalism, and multidirectional, travelling, and cosmopolitan memory. Through a summary of each chapter’s contribution to transnational European memory discourses, the editors also highlight the main themes emerging from these case studies and the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to the study of transnational European memory that incorporates the analysis of a variety of commemorative media.