Luxembourg is and always has been a country characterised by migration, with waves of emigration in the 19th century and immigration since the early 20th century. The C²DH is keen to analyse this multi-faceted phenomenon. Three PhD theses, all supported by the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR), are exploring the question of migration from a variety of angles using digital humanities methods.
Anita Lucchesi’s thesis involves the creation of a digital platform to showcase different narratives about migration, drawing on crowdsourcing techniques. “My initial intention for this public history project was to focus on Italian and Portuguese migration to Luxembourg, but I soon realised that the phenomenon was much more multicultural than that,” explains the PhD candidate, who consequently decided to widen the scope of her research to include other nationalities.
Instead of a simple website for participants to upload their narratives, she decided to create a dynamic platform accessible via Facebook and Instagram with the hashtag #memorecord. The corresponding website, memorecord.uni.lu, is a platform that compiles these contributions – which can take the form of texts, photos and audio or video excerpts –, while also documenting interactions, comments and discussions online. To reach those who are less familiar with social media, particularly older generations, the researcher is opting for more traditional methods, for example visiting retirement homes to present her project.
Anita Lucchesi will then analyse these narratives and try to identify common threads and themes. “So far the information has been very varied, but it is noticeable that people tend to emphasise the positive aspects of their experience as a migrant, sometimes with a hint of nostalgia,” she says. “Making use of these data represents a real challenge, since standardised analytical methods for this type of source do not yet exist.”
Although thousands of Luxembourgers emigrated to Brazil in the 19th century, the wave of emigration that Dominique Santana is investigating in her PhD thesis is more recent. She is looking at the expatriates who settled in Brazil in connection with the expansion of ARBED’s activities in the country, especially in the iron ore-rich state of Minas Gerais, where the Luxembourg group founded the “Companhia Siderúrgica Belgo Mineira”. The researcher is interested in the story of these migrants and also their second- and third-generation descendants, over the period from 1920 to 1965. “Approximately 800 people went to Brazil for this reason. Most of them came back to Luxembourg after their initial three-year contract but some stayed on afterwards with their families,” explains the PhD candidate.
These Luxembourgers formed their own community, remaining close to their home country in terms of their culture and lifestyle. “There was a form of social hierarchy within the community – a foreman did not enjoy the same amenities and status as an engineer,” adds Dominique Santana, who wants to avoid falling into the trap of presuming that the “colony” was united in every respect, that a simple “master narrative” can tell the whole story. For her historical research she is drawing on a wide range of sources, from Belgo Mineira archives to newspapers, passports and letters, as well as oral history – she is carrying out interviews with protagonists.
Another original aspect of her thesis will be the production of an interactive web documentary on the topic, which will be broadcast via a dedicated website.
Finally, a third PhD thesis supported by the FNR was launched in October 2018. Arnaud Sauer, a PhD candidate at the C²DH, will analyse the flows, mobility and networks of foreign labour in the cross-border “Minett” mining region during the interwar period.
The C²DH’s “Contemporary History of Luxembourg” research unit has set itself the objective of studying questions with varying temporal, spatial and theoretical contexts, with the aim of producing new scientific knowledge about the phenomena and processes that have had a major impact on Luxembourg and whose comparative value goes beyond the national perspective: the history of the formation of the nation state, the history of the two world wars, periods of occupation and their legacy, antisemitism and the Holocaust, collaboration and resistance, attempts at authoritarianism, democratisation, the history of trade unions and the welfare state, the history of migration, and the history of societal and cultural transformations since the 1970s.
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The C²DH Public History Department has begun working on the compilation of an image database on Luxembourg’s industrial heritage.
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The world of finance, a “glocal” history field
The financialisation of the world economy during the 20th century is a relatively new topic in the discipline of historical research.
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The activities of the C²DH’s “Digital History” (DH) unit can be broken down into three overlapping categories: 1) research and development in digital methods; 2) university teaching for the Bachelor’s in European Cultures and the Master’s in European History, as well as in-house skills training; 3) outreach – disseminating research through public events and websites.
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A framework for young researchers
One of the original features of the C²DH, like the University of Luxembourg as a whole, is the international dimension of its research and the multicultural approach to academic study.
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