Astérion, n°15/2016

This issue deals refers to the exact time when violents conflicts are supposed to end. Usually called «postwar period» and always perceived as problematic, this moment is an unachieved process: we know when it starts but we do not ever know when it really ends. We decided, hence, not to refer to a defined and limited notion («the postwar period»), but to an inquiry related to a momentum without aknowledged frontiers: to a «quality of time», would have said Machiavel. We do not wish to postulate from the outset, the autonomy of a field of study (a kind of «postwar studies»). This filed has yet to be defined and limited, even if in the past twenty years, we have seen lots and lots of works on the culture of war, its continuation and its abandonment after the end of the conflict. From the recurrent crystallizations that war produces, we would rather question about what happens at this very moment, considering justice and everyone's responsibilities. Beyond the interrogations coming from the cultural studies, we would also like to examine the inexpressible phenomenons the conflicts provokes, the creations of a narrative, or even the staging of the just past conflicts. And then, we will try to understand the necessity of oblivion in front of the effort of remembrance.