This interdisciplinary panel brings together historical, ethnographic, and literary studies to explore the dynamics of social and autobiographical memory in the wake of major political transformations, ranging from the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe to the breakup of Yugoslavia, to the entrance of Portugal in the European Union.  Starting inquiry from a variety of lieux de mémoire – whether virtual spaces such as the Internet, physical sites such as monuments or cities, or discursive articulations (diaries and novels) – our presentations investigate the tensions between hegemonic and alternative memory discourses and the dynamics of continuity and change in the representation of the past. We argue that that these memory sites and the actors who mobilize them are particularly fertile grounds for excavating multiple and often competing national, ethnic, and social imaginaries and identities in the wake of major social changes. We contribute to existing scholarship on collective and autobiographical memory not only by integrating performative and discursive approaches to memory, but also by offering perspectives from Europe’s margins, more specifically, from its southeastern and southwestern corners.