Ivan Nikolovski

Junior Visiting Fellowship in the cluster "Cultural memory and cultural heritage in Europe in the context of digital transformation"

As part of the ‘Dimensions of Europe’ Visiting Fellowship 2026/2027, I plan to transform my doctoral dissertation titled “Mnemonic Conditionality and Europeanization of Memory in Bulgaria-North Macedonia's Dispute About the Past: A Story of Mnemonic Enlargement of Europe” into a book proposal. The dissertation provides insight into Bulgaria’s conditions for North Macedonia’s accession to the European Union regarding matters of the past and explores how mnemonic enlargement relates to the actual enlargement process. It also examines how mnemonic enlargement affects narratives of belonging during the accession process and, in turn, impacts the EU’s politics of memory. The dissertation departs from the literature on the Europeanization of memory through enlargement and argues that this strand is ill-suited to explaining mnemonic enlargement. Retaining the concept of Europeanization notwithstanding, the doctoral project propels conceptual and empirical arguments. Conceptually, it holds that the mnemonic enlargement of Europe during the accession process results from, but is not inevitably determined by, the actual enlargement process. That is, while triggered by mnemonic conditionality, mnemonic enlargement may take on a life of its own.