BETWEEN DEMOCRACIES 1994-2014. Remembering, narrating and reimagining the past in Eastern and Central Europe and South Africa

Abstract

On the generous invitation of conference organiser Dr Judy Peter, two staff members and three students from the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Pretoria were privileged to attend this conference on remembering in Eastern and Central Europe and South Africa, held at the University of Johannesburg from 13 to 15 March 2015. The conference represented a remarkable collaboration between scholars from and /or scholars working on these two not-so often compared or juxtaposed parts of the world. The reason for Dr Peter bringing Eastern/Central European and South African memories, monuments, memorials, public histories and art into a single scope, is the trajectory shared by both regions of having become democratic only after the end of the Cold War, hence the dates: 1989-2014.