[ecrea] CFP- F*ck May ’68, Fight Now: Exploring the Uses of the Radical Past from 1968 to Today

*Call for Participation: F*ck May ’68, Fight Now: Exploring the Uses of 
the Radical Past from 1968 to Today *

**http://womensrightshistory.org/fck-may/

8th June 2018

University of Liverpool

Organisers: Dr Ian Gwinn (Liverpool) and Kerrie McGiveron (Liverpool)

Keynote: Geoff Eley (Michigan)


Around the time of the financial meltdown of 2008 and the ensuing 
economic crisis, the slogan ‘Fuck May ’68, Fight Now’ appeared on 
protest banners and spray-painted on walls all over Europe. In 
disavowing the legacies of that earlier moment of revolt and 
revolutionary optimism, it counterposed the urgencies of current 
struggles against the nostalgia and romance for the radical event. Yet 
disavowal or refusal have not been confined to a new generation of 
activists. The whole process of its memorialisation in the media and 
public culture can be said to have induced form of historical amnesia, 
in which, according to Paul Foot, a ‘1968 anniversary industry’ has 
portrayed what happened as ‘an aberration, a moment of delirium which 
seduced the youth of the time’. Even among historians, there has been a 
tendency to downgrade the significance of the 68 events in favour of far 
more consequential long-term processes of change running through the 
post-war period.


But these have been far from the only response to the legacies of ’68. 
The reconstruction of past traditions of radicalism has been a central 
activity in many post-68 movements. The politics of the Women’s 
Liberation Movement, for instance, was intimately linked to the 
rediscovery of women’s role as political agents and agitators in 
history. Indeed, the fusion of participatory politics and historical (or 
academic) study remains a vital legacy of 1968, represented, above all, 
in movements like History Workshop, Geschichtswerkstätten, Dig Where You 
Stand, and others.


This conference takes the 50th anniversary of 1968 as an occasion to 
critically assess the various ways in which radical events and movements 
since the 1960s have been retold, not just in historical writing, but 
through a broad range of cultural media, activities, and practices, 
including by activists themselves. It also seeks to explore how the 
representation of the past is involved in the struggle over cultural and 
political meaning in the present, over what counts as history and what 
does not. Finally, it aims to reflect on how memory and history continue 
to inform political activity in the contemporary moment. In doing so, 
the conference organisers invite contributions from activists, 
historians, and other scholars, but also artists, journalists, curators, 
archivists, educators, filmmakers, musicians, and cultural workers.


Points for discussion might include:

  * How do activists and movements remember (or ritualise) past
    traditions of political struggle?
  * What tensions or contradictions are negotiated in this process?
    (e.g. between past and the promise of a better future).
  * How have certain media and forms shaped the memory of radicalism?
  * What are the ethical and political implications of writing the
    history of the radical event? Or: How do we write the history of
    revolution in a post-revolutionary age?
  * Has the history and memory of 1968 become fetishised in academic
    research?
  * Is history still a weapon?


Presentations of up to 20 minutes are welcomed on any area of political 
or cultural protest since the 1960s along the lines described above. 
Please submit proposal abstracts of 250-300 words to the conference 
e-mail address: (ian.gwinn /at/ liverpool.ac.uk) Any enquiries may be sent to 
the same address.


The deadline for this call for participation is _Friday, 16th February 
2018._


We expect to be able to cover travel and accommodation expenses for all 
speakers.


The conference will take place on _Friday 8th June 2018._

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