COLLECTIVE MEMORIES AND REPRESENTATIONS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN EDITORIALS

Abstract

This study addresses the question of the extent to which the representation of a national identity is a “prisoner of its past” and thus might represent an obstacle to the improvement of intercultural relations. Following a Critical Discourse Analysis approach, this paper investigates in particular how French and American collective memories of Communist Russia establish a framework for representations of post-Communist Russia in 1999–2000 editorials of Le Monde and The New York Times when shared representations of this country were still being constructed. It appears that both newspapers rely principally on a Cold War framework, and that this negative framework is updated with mentions of post-1991 events. The reliance on this framework is reinforced when the newspapers construct a negative image of Russia. Representation of Russia is more negative in The New York Times than in Le Monde, but the French and American conceptions of history and the newspapers’ roles in their respective societies resulted in Le Monde's bleak outlook on Russia's future in contrast with The New York Times’ more positive perspective.