On 29 and 30 October 2015, the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts, University of Malta hosted a meeting of Working Group 2 (WG2) of COST Action IS1205 at the Valletta Campus. WG2 deals specifically with ‘Lay Representations of History in Europe: Concepts of Nationhood and Identities’ in the broader framework of ‘Social Psychological Dynamics of Historical Representations in the Enlarged European Union’. This COST Action acts as a forum for historians and social psychologists from 28 European countries, promoting several discussions, projects and publications. Its members are among the most renowned experts in the respective fields concerned, with the majority being professors and other academics from top European universities.
This meeting was hosted by the Maltese members Dr Emanuel Buttigieg, Senior Lecturer in early modern History at the University of Malta and Ms Simone Azzopardi, Lecturer in History at the University of Malta Junior College. The logistics of the event were successfully administered by the University of Malta Project Support Team and coordinated by the Senior Executive of the Conference Unit Ms Lucienne May Bugeja. The Malta Tourism Authority generously part-sponsored the cultural activities planned for the participants.
The two-day meeting saw the finalisation of the project plans which three subgroups, functioning within this WG2, have been discussing since 2014. Subgroup 1, dealing with the First World War, continued to consolidate its work on representations of WWI conducted via a survey among 100 psychology students from each of the participating countries. Subgroup 2, which focuses on Colonialism, resolved to publish a collection of papers dealing with secondary school textbooks, analysing those sections that cover modern colonialism, in both former imperial powers and colonised countries alike. Subgroup 3 has taken up the task of formulating a European History Survey which would help analyse the representation of European history in the participating countries.
The upcoming WG2 meeting shall take place during the final conference marking the end of this COST Action, in Limerick, Ireland, in July 2016. Throughout the coming year, MC members Dr Buttigieg and Ms Azzopardi will be working on contributing a paper to the publication prepared by Subgroup 2. For more information about this meeting and/or the project, please contact either Dr Buttigieg or Ms Azzopardi.