Democratic Republic of Georgia as an Object of the Historical Politics of Memory in Georgia (2018–2020)

Abstract

This article presents an attempt to analyse historical politics as politics of memory in modern Georgia in the context of perception of the images and heritage of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG). The aim of the study is to analyse the images of the Democratic Republic of Georgia between 2018 and 2020 as part of the history and genealogy of the modern project of Georgian statehood in historical politics. The article is based on the methods used in studies of the politics of memory (historical politics) in modern interdisciplinary historiography. The article describes the features of the instrumentalisation of DRG images in the historical and political cultures of Georgia. The article examines the forms of participation of modern elites in the politics of memory in contexts of jubilee celebrations, memorial, and commemorative events that inspired the actualisation of the DRG images in the cultural and public spaces of Georgia. It is revealed that modern elites and heirs of DRG politicians became actors of historical politics and actual “battles for history”. As a result, the author concludes that images of the DRG became a symbolic resource for the consolidation of society and the development of the political identity of Georgian statehood. It is assumed that images of the DRG are integrated into the symbolic tools that political elites used in their attempts to correct identity and historical memory in modern Georgia. It is demonstrated that by initiating memorial celebrations dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the DRG in 2018, Georgian elites launched a series of commemorative events planned until 2024 solving political problems, localising, and interpreting historical traumas in the politics of memory proposed by the state as the main former of the official historical canon.