CASA Historical Memory Fellowship Program

Applications to the Historical Memory Project are currently on hold.

The Consortium for Advanced Studies Abroad (CASA) invites participants from any of its eight sites to apply to the Historical Memory Project Fellowship Program, an exciting opportunity for undergraduate students to carry out individual or collaborative research on historical memory in fields such as anthropology, archeology, cinema, forensics, history, law, and literature, political science, social psychology, and sociology.

Historical memory is sometimes expressed as collective memory or the politics of memory, and refers to the often fluid ways in which individuals, societal and collective groups and nations construct and identify with particular narratives about historical periods or events. Historical memory is a universal topic that can include research in fields ranging from anthropology, archaeology, cinema, forensics, history, law, literature, political science, social psychology, and sociology.

Each CASA site will designate up to five students as Historical Memory Fellows, who will carry out research throughout the semester resulting in a final paper. The cohort of Fellows may convene in a common location to deepen their understanding of historical memory in a local context.

Expectations of CASA Historical Memory Fellows

Historical Memory Fellows are expected to:

  • Participate in a study group and/or in additional activities with the other Historical Memory Fellows. This may include a site visit to another city or country.
  • Research the topic and write a final paper (approximately 6,000 words or 15 pages), either for the Pro-Seminar, for another relevant course at the local university, or as an enrichment project. You may seek guidance from your program resident director or from faculty members at your home or host institutions.
  • Participate in the annual CASA Historical Memory two-day symposium.

Costs associated with participating in the group activities related to the Historical Memory Fellowship, including the symposium, will be covered by CASA.

Annual Publication

Each year, a compilation of essays (final projects) from the previous academic year's Historial Memory Fellowship cohort will be published by the Universitat de Barcelona.

Historical Memory Project Volume I: Memory, Resistance, and Justice, CASA Occasional Papers, Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, Consortium for Advanced Studies in Barcelona (2020)

For an example of an alternative final project model, view Natalie Fredman's interactive Yearning for Sepharad: Contemporary Sephardic Voices of Diaspora (2019)

How to Apply

Using the online application form, submit a 500-word essay about your interest in historical memory, and a proposed topic(s) for exploration.

**Fall 2021 Application Deadline: Late spring/early summer 2021 TBD, please consult with Resident Director

For more information return to the Research Initiatives page or contact CASA.

Potential Historical Memory Research Topics

These topics are meant to serve as guidelines, but are no means exhaustive. For the Research Statement, applicants may select one of these topics or come up with another topic.

  • The role the Catholic church has played in the history and culture of Argentina
  • The politics of memory through different forms of artistic expression
  • Italian immigration and its legacy in Buenos Aires
  • Historical memory and the dirty war
  • The role and memory of Tango in the Argentine imaginary
  • Jewish-Argentine culture and its memory
  • Travel writing and literary memory of colonial Brazil
  • The cultural legacy of slavery in Brazil
  • Rio de Janeiro – a black and African city, history and memory
  • Historical memory in Brazilian film
  • Social movements in the Brazilian democracy
  • The Brazilian black movement during the military dictatorship
  • The oral memory in Brazilian popular music and culture
  • Transitional justice in the young Brazilian democracy
  • Subaltern urban histories and memory sites
  • The unwritten history of the repressive daily life during the military dictatorship
  • New Song movement, arpilleras, or other cultural production arising in the 1960s and 1970s
  • Truth and reconciliation process after Chile's return to democracy
  • Indigenous legacy in Chile, including gender, human rights, or cultural influence of Mapuche people
  • Semester-length internship at the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos
  • The effects of the Wars for Independence
  • The Cuban Revolution
  • The legacy of slavery and the influence of Africa on Cuban culture
  • The impact of Chinese migration in Cuba
  • For students applying to the HMF in Cuba, please use your essay to describe your general interest in the topic of historical memory and any relevant preparation. If you have a topic in mind, you may include it; however, please note that topics may shift according to feasibility, which can be determined in collaboration with the Resident Director upon arrival in Havana.

    • Remembering the Magdalene Laundries
    • National Memory and Changing Place Names in Ireland
    • The Travellers and Irish Cultural Memory and Identity
    • The Troubles and Irish National and Historical Memory
    • The Justice Acts of the 1730s and their Impact on the Future of the Irish Language
    • National Memory and The Great Famine
  • Represión franquista y sus efectos posteriores en la sociedad española
  • ¿Hay espacio en la España actual para los monumentos franquistas?
  • Herencia franquista en la política española (el caso de Vox)
  • Catalán independence and identity
  • Los lugares de la Guerra Civil en Sevilla: fosas comunes, campos de concentración, prisiones
  • La comunidad sefardí en Sevilla en la actualidad
  • El Valle de los Caídos. Historia, símbolo y memoria
  • El asesinato de Federico García Lorca. Entre el mito y la historia
  • ¿Por qué los años del hambre? La propaganda del régimen
  • El nacionalcatolicismo en casa: la mujer bajo el franquismo
  • La corrupción en el franquismo
  • La transición española: violencia y conflictividad
  • Los últimos crímenes del franquismo (1960-1975)
  • Campos de concentración en el franquismo (1936-1948)