displacement and migration to an analysis of European’s states reception systems, recent forms of xenophobia and new social instances urgently emerged. This has led to the interest to understand the relationship between the memories of those who have experienced the transition and the European integration in the Western Balkan countries, particularly in Slovenia and Croatia, and those who have recreated their lives abroad, in particular in Italy and in Germany. To do this, partners will create a bridge between a recovery of the memories of the ‘90s war events and the involvement of the younger generations in order to encourage their participation in developing a new gaze to the past and in defining priorities and desires for change regarding the time and space in which one lives. Different social groups will be involved in this analysis, through different phases and activities: university students, researchers, academics, memory workers, but also high school students and young adults, educators and teachers, performative artists, citizens from four European countries.

The project general objective is therefore to directly address the difficult heritage of which the Western Balkans are bearers. It concerns the relationship with a past recognized as significant, problematic, controversial and even embarrassing at the same time, whose criticality prevents a reconciliation of public memory. Indeed, the way in which people think about past events has had in the Western Balkans effects on national and international politics within the single countries. A difficult reworking of the past – personal and collective – often hinders the ability to think about the future after the emergence of personal and collective traumas. For this reason, in this project, the partners want to investigate in depth the relationship between past events and current social action, analyzing it with a multidisciplinary approach.

New challenges, obstacles and opportunities are changing the way European citizens think about migration. The number of people entering the European Union asking for international protection has increased dramatically in these last decades. This happens both for the reduction of other opportunities for legal entry, but also for the continuous emergence of wars and conflicts, not only in the African and Asian continent, but also in Europe. Migrations change people’s ways of thinking. For many, this change is more of a threat than an opportunity. So, the emergence of narratives that attempt to distort historical facts for immediate objectives, such as closing borders and containing social change to increase political power, is an issue to be urgently considered.