Inside the Memorial Culture of the Chechen Republic: from the Present to the Recreated Past

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze the modern Chechen Republic memorial culture. The author proceeds from the fact that the Chechnya past outside the republic, as a rule, is limited to the memory of the Caucasian War (in connection with the historical figure of Imam Shamil) and the armed actions of the post-Soviet period of 1994–1996 and 1999–2009, which are often referred to as "Chechen wars" or "Chechen campaigns". The novelty of the study lies in the modern Chechen memorial culture research in the context of the post-conflict stage of the North Caucasian republic formation, where there are very few interdisciplinary studies. The article identifies a selection of key historical events on which the Chechen memorial culture is constructed: 1) the movement under the leadership of Sheikh Mansur; 2) the Caucasian War; 3) the revolution of 1917 and the civil war; 4) Soviet Chechnya (Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic); 5) Great Patriotic War/deportation 1944; 6) "Chechen revolution" 1991, Dudayev's regime, civil war in Chechnya 1994, "first Chechen war", interwar crisis, "second Chechen war", abolition of the counter-terrorist operation regime (WHO) and the development of the republic. The author applies A. Assman's model of commemoration “to remember never to forget” to the Chechen memorial culture, since it involves the preservation of the past and the integration of the memory of the event into a collective identity. At the same time, the article reveals the shortcomings of this model and shows the gradual institutionalization of the commemorative practice of the victims of deportation remembrance in the post-conflict period of the republic development.