CULTURE OF MEMORY AND SOME MODELS OF MEMORY ABOUT THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE IN CONTEMPORARY ARMENIAN SOCIETY

Abstract

The article reveals modern approaches to the culture of collective memory addressing the cornerstone historical events which influenced the further course of history and national identity construction. The question of how to construct the collective memory about wars, genocide, mass suffering is one of the most important issues in the modern historiography, sociology and social psychology, political science, and related disciplines. The "politics of memory", which also includes such categories as "ethics and culture of memory," essentially determines the ability of the nation to overcome its collective trauma, to find ways for selfdevelopment and development of the country, and the further role and place of the nation in the system of international relations. This article discusses the current research studies on the culture of memory applied to the Holocaust, the present approaches to the definition and implementation of strategies of politics of memory, and memory models developed by modern scholars on the Holocaust remembrance. The Armenian Genocide of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire serves as object of the analysis. The subject of the analysis includes the approaches to the memory about the Armenian Genocide in the modern Armenian society, which is discussed here as the complex culture of memory on the Armenian Genocide, which is partly resulted of the official politics of memory implemented by Armenian authorities, as well as practiced by the Armenian Diaspora, and is partly a consequence of manifestations of national identity and collective memory at the level of society, social groups and individuals. The article is an attempt to identify the memory models in scientific research studies, in particular with regard to the memory of the Holocaust, and analyze their application / applicability to the culture and social practices of the memory of the Armenian Genocide.