The project aims at objectifying the research on historical memory-building, taking the analysis of the concept of mere repression and war traumas to examine how institutions develop concrete constructions of elements of historical consciousness.

By introducing in the analysis of modern empires, questions about post- imperial myths, which had been reaffirmed in historiography by post- colonial studies, we aim to explore critically the imperial legacies and forms of nation building after empires, as well as the consequences of independencies in Europe.

As containers of cultural memory, some institutions were always important factors of nation-building and state-building. That’s the reason why governments and opposition powers have ever designed their own politics –however poor or wrong- for managing research infrastructures and signatures of memory. As Infrastructures of Memory (IoM) we understand institutions such as museums, archives, libraries, repositories, and any resource the purpose of which is to preserve man’s collective and individual memory. They have had material consistence (handwritten, printed documents; paintings, photographs and films, etc.) but nowadays they are moving towards digital support. This may be State-run or part of the civil society (as for example infrastructures run by associations of emigrants). IoM content usually Signatures of Memory. As Signatures of Memory (SoM), we considerate all kind of records and semiotic elements, that can help to build narratives and representations of identity. In order to be accepted as “signatures”, they should integrate a commonly recognized national identity.

The three axis of the project are: - memory (signatures of memory); - break-up (output of independencies)- and future (identity/nation-building).

Such concepts will be research in the background of the diverse narratives and institutions of memory, whitin post-imperial contexts.