History and Memory Between Europe and Australia: New Perspectives

Abstract

This article surveys the state of European history in Australia as measured by the 2023 conference of the Australasian Association for European History (AAEH). It places the current study of European history in the context of the crises of the contemporary world and asks how the eye of the European historian can be usefully mobilised to inform the present moment. Despite challenges history and humanities generally face at Australian universities today, the AAEH conference and the articles stemming from it demonstrated the scope and depth of research on European history of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and its relevance to understanding the current socio-political turbulences around the world. The special issue features seven articles which bring historical insight and sensibility to contemporary reflections in the fields of international relations, migration and diaspora, and gender studies, as well as new approaches to understanding and remembering the past today.