The Policy of Collective Historical Memory in Modern Georgia in the Early 2020s

Abstract

The aim of the study is to analyze the modern politics of memory in Georgia in the early 2020s. The author analyzes the role and place of liberal trends in modern Georgian social thought as a factor in the development and transformation of memorial culture and collective historical memory. The novelty of the study lies in the study of the current (modern) stage in the development of the historical policy of Georgian society in the context of an objective lack of interdisciplinary research focused on the analysis of the memorial cultures of the post-Soviet space, based of the original sources use. The article also shows that 1) the liberal segment of modern Georgian society makes a significant contribution to the developments and transformations of memorial culture; 2) the spectrum of memorial practices of Georgian intellectuals varies from historical revisionism to attempts to form a liberal memorial canon; 3) the participation of intellectuals in memorial policy contributes to a parallel co-development of various forms of historical memories. It is assumed that the role of Georgian civil society, including its liberal segment, in the historical politics of modern Georgia will increase, and the intellectual community will remain among the active participants in collective memorial politics.