Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation

Susie Campbell talks to Niall Munro about her experience as poet-in-residence during the Post-War seminar series 2017-18.

Poems of commemoration, reconstruction and reconciliation from the Post-War series' poets-in-residence. Poets Susie Campbell, Patrick Toland, Mariah Whelan and Susie Zatland share their new poetry created especially for the 2017-18 Mellon-Sawyer series Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation.

Alex Donnelly talks to Niall Munro about his work on the ecology of conflict, the interpretative role of academic research, and his interest in the 'lone voices' in poetry.

Jon Stainsby talks to Johana Muskalova about the relationship between music and commemoration and his experience as a performer. Baritone soloist Jon Stainsby performed in the European premiere of Anthony Ritchie's oratorio Gallipoli to the Somme at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, on Saturday 2 June 2018. This performance was part of the Remembrance Concert marking the culmination of the Mellon-Sawyer seminar series 2017-18 'Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation'. The concert featured the Parliament Choir, members of the City Choir Dunedin, and the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by Simon Over

Anna Leese speaks to Niall Munro about her personal connections to commemorations of war and the performance of commemorative music. Soprano soloist Anna Leese performed in the European premiere of Anthony Ritchie's oratorio Gallipoli to the Somme at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, on Saturday 2 June 2018. This performance was part of the Remembrance Concert marking the culmination of the Mellon-Sawyer seminar series 2017-18 'Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation'. The concert featured the Parliament Choir, members of the City Choir Dunedin, and the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by Simon Over.

Conductor Simon Over talks to Rita Phillips about the performance of commemorative musical works. Simon Over, Musical Director of the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted the European premiere of Anthony Ritchie's oratorio Gallipoli to the Somme at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, on Saturday 2 June 2018. This performance was part of the Remembrance Concert marking the culmination of the Mellon-Sawyer seminar series 2017-18 'Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation'.

Composer Anthony Ritchie talks to Catherine Gilbert about the relationship between music, war and remembrance in his oratorio Gallipoli to the Somme. The European premiere of New Zealand composer Anthony Ritchie's oratorio Gallipoli to the Somme was performed at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, on Saturday 2 June 2018, as part of the Remembrance Concert marking the end of the Mellon-Sawyer seminar series 2017-18 'Post-War: Commemoration, Reconstruction, Reconciliation'. The concert featured the Parliament Choir, members of the City Choir Dunedin, and the Southbank Sinfonia, conducted by Simon Over, as well as soloists Anna Leese (soprano) and Jon Stainsby (baritone). In this interview, Ritchie reflects on the challenges of composing a piece of music commemorating the First World War and how he drew inspiration from a range of texts, including soldiers' diaries, war poetry and song.

Lord William Wallace, member of the Parliament Choir, talks to Professor Kate McLoughlin about the centenary commemorations of the First World War.

John Dunston and Kate McLoughlin explore varieties of religious silence and the relationship between silence and commemoration.

Lydia Wilson talks to Alex Donnelly about commemoration as a narrative for the future in the Middle East

Mahinda Deegalle talks to Catherine Gilbert about the application of Buddhist values in post-conflict societies.

Adrian Gregory speaks to Johana Musalkova and Rita Phillips about the role of silence in public commemoration.

Composer Jonathan Dove talks to Kate McLoughlin about commemorating through music and music’s power to make us remember in the wake of individual and mass loss.

Peter Grant talks to Johana Musalkova and Rita Phillips about the link between collective memory and popular music, exploring examples of artists who attempt to challenge dominant national narratives.

Laura Hassler, Founding Director of Musicians without Borders, talks to Kate McLoughlin about her vision for the organisation and music’s potential in giving voice, recognition and empowerment to post-conflict communities.

Musician Rihab Azar talks to Niall Munro about her quest to find new ways of empowering and connecting communities through music and how music functions as a ‘resistance act’ in situations of (post-)conflict.

Sculptor and carver Charles Gurrey talks to Niall Munro about the importance of context, text and material in his design of commemorative sculptures.

Dr Silke Arnold-de Simine talks to Dr Catherine Gilbert about new forms of testimony, the limits of empathy and the need to understand processes of exclusion and dehumanisation. Dr Silke Arnold-de Simine is Reader in Memory, Media and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck, University of London.

Pfarrerin Dr Cornelia Kulawik, Pastor of Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Berlin-Dahlem, and Kate McLoughlin discuss changing modes of commemoration in Germany and the role of the church in reconciliation past and present.

The Very Reverend John Witcombe, Dean of Coventry Cathedral, talks to Rita Phillips about the Coventry Cross of Nails and the power of such symbols in building solidarity in post-conflict societies around the world.

Architect Daniel Libeskind talks to Niall Munro about civic responsibility, the shock of memory and the role of the monument as a bridge between the past and the future.

Mark Johnston talks to Alex Donnelly about the work of the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum and the importance of an arts engagement approach to commemoration in improving the well-being of veterans and their families.

Dr Jane Potter, Reader in Arts at Oxford Brookes University, talks to Kate McLoughlin about textual and material commemorative cultures and the central role of words and language in the reconstruction and renegotiation of memory.

Dr Chrissie Steenkamp talks to Johana Musalkova about community-based and nationally-driven practices of commemoration in South Africa and Northern Ireland.

Archaeologist Dr Gabe Moshenska talks to Rita Phillips about democratic forms of commemoration and the public responsibility of researchers in empowering people to take control of their own narratives, history and heritage.

Dr Emma Login talks to poet-in-residence Dahmicca Wright about Historic England's First World War Memorials Programme, 'memorial mania', and the recent shift from community-based to national forms of remembrance.

Author and journalist Tony Horwitz talks to Niall Munro about the sesquicentennial commemorations of the American Civil War, the complexity of reconstruction in the American South, and re-enactment as a way of connecting with the past.

In this lecture, architect Daniel Libeskind shares his creative process and thinking for many of his most prominent buildings including the Jewish Museum Berlin and the Military History Museum in Dresden. Daniel Libeskind is an international figure in architecture and urban design. His practice extends from building major cultural and commercial institutions to private homes and object design. Best known for designing iconic buildings such as the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Imperial War Museum North, Libeskind is also the master-plan designer for the World Trade Center site in New York City. Libeskind's work is deeply connected to memory. In this lecture, which launches the Monumental strand of the Post-War Seminar Series, Libeskind shares his creative process and thinking for many of his most prominent buildings including the Jewish Museum Berlin, Military History Museum in Dresden as well as recent Holocaust memorials in Canada and the Netherlands.

Harvey Whitehouse, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford, talks to Alex Donnelly and Johana Musalkova about shared responses to experiences of suffering and the potential role of commemoration in achieving social cohesion.

Novelist Rachel Seiffert talks to Dr Catherine Gilbert about the ritual of memory and the possibilities of fiction as a response to a difficult past.

Lyndsey Stonebridge, Professor of Modern Literature and History at the University of East Anglia, talks to Rita Phillips about literary humanitarianism and the ethics of empathy.

Elleke Boehmer talks to Kate McLoughlin about her most recent novel, The Shouting in the Dark, the language of reconciliation in South Africa, and the creative potential for the work of both fiction and literary criticism.

Aminatta Forna OBE, author of The Devil that Danced on the Water, talks to Dr Catherine Gilbert about silence, narrative and resilience in Sierra Leone.

Philippe Sands, QC, international human rights lawyer and author of East West Street, talks to Kate McLoughlin about the law-court as a place of commemoration and what he came to understand outside the city of Lviv.

Iraqi-American poet Dunya Mikhail talks to Alex Donnelly about commemoration, reconnection and poetry as 'a museum of feeling'.

Professor Jeremy Treglown and Alex Donnelly discuss the politics of commemoration and the challenges of remembrance for both veterans and civilians.

Lord John Alderdice (Liberal Democrat peer and Director of the Centre for the Resolution of Intractable Conflict (CRIC)) talks to Johana Musalkova and Rita Phillips. They talk about poetry, peace processes and the challenges of creating positive commemoration.