Идентичности и национальные варианты политики памяти (к итогам дискуссии)

Abstract

The article summarizes the main results of a recent discussion on the relationship between national identities and national variants of the politics of memory in relation to global historical events of the 20 th century. This discussion took place from April 1 to June 30, 2020 as part of the annual Internet conference of the Altai School of Political Studies. The introduction to the article provides a brief overview of the main directions of already existing research on this topic in Russian and foreign literature. The content of the 30 reports submitted to the Internet conference is characterized, in which the comprehension of events that have left a deep imprint on the public consciousness (world wars, revolutions, the collapse of empires and multinational states, processes of decolonization, Cold War, etc.) is considered. For a specific analysis, the reports are selected that are closest to the chosen topic. They are divided into three semantic blocks: 1) Identities and comprehension of the past in the context of a pandemic; 2) Postcolonial identities and working through the past; 3) The trauma of genocide: the identities of “perpetrators” and “victims”. The analysis shows that the comprehension and historical assimilation of a number of events is still far from complete. In many countries, the "politics of memory" in relation to the most important historical events and symbols is used in the construction of national identities, in the legitimization of the most important steps in domestic and foreign policy. On the other hand, the formed national identity can significantly influence the memory policy pursued in the country. Therefore, further comparative study of the variants of “memory politics” used in the world, associated with the formation of identities, is an urgent scientific task.