For this first collective session in the Ouvertures series, Brian Sandberg, historian and Senior Fellow 2025-2026, is organising an afternoon dedicated to the contestation of history and the culture wars. Registration is required to attend this event.
Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash.
Uses of the past and academic freedom
History is heavily contested in the news by society and the media. The concept of “Culture Wars”, which has been in use for several decades in the United States, has become widespread. The issues of religion, culture, race, gender, slavery, colonialism, imperialism and globalisation are at the heart of many discussions on identity and identity politics around the world.
Historical memory is regularly mobilised in many ways by nations, political parties, companies and social groups. Archives, history publications, exhibitions in historical museums, and history programmes are targeted by groups with diverse interests. Media, digital and AI platforms allow the production and dissemination of historical narratives and commentaries on history with unexpected speed, often negating historical sources. The past is used and instrumentalised by various groups to justify their current projects and political agendas.
New technologies have accelerated the fabrication of false narratives and the denial of historical sources. Users have the ability to hijack historical narratives and assert their own interpretations of history. The aim of this study day is to examine the place of history in these new ‘culture wars’.
Practical information
- Date: Thursday, Feburary 12th, 2026 from 2.30 pm to 7.30 pm
- Venue: LaboFriche, Friche la Belle de Mai, 41 rue Jobin 13003 Marseille
- Language: these round tables will be held in French.
- The room can only accommodate 100 people. Registration is mandatory.
Two round tables on the culture wars
Moderator: Jérémie Foa (HDR lecturer, TELEMMe, Aix Marseille Université)
- Paulin Ismard (professor of ancient history, Centre Camille Jullian, Aix Marseille Université)
- Clémence Revest (CNRS research fellow, Centre Norbert Elias)
- Thomas Glesener (lecturer, TELEMMe, amU fellow, Iméra, Aix Marseille Université)
- Brian Sandberg (Senior Fellow, Iméra, Aix Marseille Université)
16:30-17:30: Coffee break and visit to the Friche la Belle de Mai bookshop
Moderator: Brian Sandberg (Senior Fellow, Iméra, Aix Marseille Université)
- Céline Regnard (University Professor, TELEMMe, Aix Marseille Université)
- Sophie Baby (Senior Lecturer HDR, LIR3S, University of Burgundy Europe)
- Stéphane Mourlane (Senior Lecturer HDR, TELEMMe, MMSH, Aix Marseille Université)
- Raphaël Bories (curator, Mucem)
Upcoming conference:
- Thursday, March 12th, 2026: Who wants to take down the University? Academic freedom in the face of contemporary societal divides by Abdoulaye Gueye, Professor of Sociology, University of Ottawa, Canada.
Past conferences :
- Thursday, November 13th, 2025: When anti-racism became postcolonial: the anti-racist turn of the 2000s between colonial memory and the “race question” by Itay Lotem, Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster, London, UK.
- Thursday, December 11th, 2025: My love affair with cancer: exploring the disease through comics by Josune Urrutia Asua, artist, illustrator and cartoonist.
- Thursday, January 15th, 2026: The price of democracy by Asensio Robles-Lopez, Adjunct Professor, Pontifical University of Comillas, Madrid, Spain.
About the Ouvertures lecture series
The Ouvertures lecture series is aimed at teacher-researchers, doctoral students and curious and passionate citizens, with the firm intention of keeping open and bright a space of intelligence, curiosity and collective discovery in an increasingly dark age, in which these kinds of spaces are shrinking or disappearing.
In the Ouvertures lectures, international scientists and artists in residence at Iméra will offer an insight into their research on sensitive subjects, conducted without taboos and with honesty.
Once a year, a collective session of Ouvertures will take place outside the walls of Iméra to discuss academic freedom through the prism of a particular field. The 2025 edition is devoted to history.
