How does the current Russo-Ukrainian war impact the memory of the Holodomor – the man-made famine in 1932-33? How do the recent Spanish memory laws impact present-day discussions of the Años del Hambre, the years of hunger during the Francoist dictatorship? And how are memories of the Scottish Highland Clearances (1750-1880) evoked in connection to Black Lives Matter demonstrations? In this episode Marta Baziuk (Holodomor Research and Education Consortium), Laurence Gourievidis (Université Clermont Auverne) and Miguel Ángel del Arco Blanco (Universidad de Granada) speak about the functioning of famine pasts in the present.
The episode is made by Anne van Mourik (NIOD) and Lindsay Janssen (Radboud University) in the context of the research project Heritages of Hunger.
Photo: Replica of the 'Bitter Memories of childhood' sculpture, located in the Holodomor Memorial Parkette (2018), Toronto. This photo was taken on 6 March 2022 – after the Russian invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022). Someone has placed flowers of Ukraine's national colours (yellow and blue) in the arms of the statue.
Photographer: Charley Boerman