AT THE CROSSROADS OF MEMORIES

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The traumatic experience of war has played a pivotal role in the history of the Circassians, an Indigenous people of the North Caucasus who suffered enormous population loss and displacement due to the Russian Empire’s conquest in the nineteenth century. Despite this historical trauma, not all members of the Circassian community oppose modern Russian military expansion in Ukraine driven by colonial ambition. To understand why this is the case, the article examines the contestation between the state memory regimes that have been silencing the memory of the Russian-Caucasian War (1763–1864) and the counter-memory of the Circassians who preserve the memory of its atrocities. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, it shows how Circassian authorities and individuals adapt to the current regime, which discourages ruminations on the significance of the Russian-Caucasian War while elevating the memory of the Second World War and emphasising the importance of interethnic unity. The paper argues that by establishing and sustaining a hierarchy of memories and identities, the Russian state cultivates loyalty and patriotism among its ethnic minorities, who are compelled to prioritise their identity as Russian citizens over their ethnic affiliations and grievances.