Huddersfield historian invited to speak at United Nations event

The University’s Dr Lindsey Dodd was one of the guest speakers at the UNESCO Conference on Memory Justice, Peace and Reconciliation attended by government ministers and policymakers from around the world

A UNIVERSITY of Huddersfield historian was invited to speak at a conference organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) Chair for Memory, Cultures and Interculturality, a position held by Professor Roger Koudé at the Université Catholique de Lyon, in France. 

Dr Lindsey Dodd, a Senior Lecturer in Modern European History within the School of Music, Humanities and Media, spoke at the UNESCO Memory, Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Conference which addressed the problems and challenges of what is often called the ‘duty of memory’ in the aftermath of violent conflict. 

“How do societies manage the memory of violence and trauma in order to move towards justice, peace and reconciliation?”, Dr Dodd asked the conference delegates.

Last year, Dr Dodd was a Research Fellow at the Collegium de Lyon (France), where she wrote a book about memory and feeling in recorded oral histories of French wartime childhoods.

“When looking at a country like France, we can trace across the period from the end of the Second World War the multiple ways that memory laws, policies and actions have impacted the way people think about their own pasts,” Dr Dodd explained.

In the lecture, she spoke about how the emotions of history – the circulation of feelings about the past – are influenced by a top-down ‘duty of memory’. This ‘duty’ includes establishing historical truth, punishing the authors of criminal acts, and seeking justice for their victims. As a ‘duty of memory’ develops, it moves beyond judicial processes into cultural and educative realms, like school curricula, museums, commemoration and the media. 

“I wanted to show that a duty of memory is both a necessity and a risk,” said Dr Dodd.

“Justice must be served. But a top-down cultural memorial ­­­­­­politics can exclude large parts of a population, who end up feeling forgotten and resentful. 

“Feelings matter a great deal because they trigger action. Given that antisemitism is on the rise, we might ask questions of how the duty of memory around the Shoah has evolved over time,” she said. 

Most presenters at the conference consisted of lawyers from nations in conflict and post-conflict situations or associated with the International Criminal Court in the Hague. They spoke about Mali, the Ivory Coast, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Haiti, Tunisia and Iraq. There were also interdisciplinary contributions about France, Russia and Bosnia.

The patron of the conference was His Excellence Monsieur Ibrahim Boubcar Keïta, the President of Mali. Other speakers included the President of the Constitutional Court of Mali, the Minister for National Reconciliation and Humanitarian action of the Central African Republic, the former Minister for Culture and Heritage of Turkey and the former Minister for Immigration and Refugees of Iraq, as well as UNESCO representatives and lawyers from the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

“No two countries are the same. We’re talking important differences in time and space. But these are extremely complicated issues in the present, and the past can be put to work to help think them through.”

Dr Lindsey Dodd, Senior Lecturer in Modern European History

Exploring the longer view, Dr Dodd believes the work by historians can shed important light on current processes of justice and reparation. 

“No two countries are the same. We’re talking about important differences in time and space. But these are extremely complicated issues in the present, and the past can be put to work to help think them through,” said Dr Dodd. 

The conference presentation delivered by Dr Dodd resonated with many of the conference attendees because of her insistence on empathy and interpersonal engagement. 

“The modern world is a cacophony. We must try and listen to one another and we must want to listen,” she said. 

Dr Dodd hopes that future collaborations with the delegates will develop as a result of the conference.