Politics Of Memory Research Articles

History meets the ‘mafia state’? Hungary and the (de)securitisation of built cultural heritage in Slovakia

ABSTRACT The article examines the securitisation of Hungarian purchases of cultural built heritage in Slovakia in 2021–2023. It demonstrates that, while the material existence of this heritage had not been in any way endangered, it nevertheless became intimately intertwined with the broader anxieties and fears of irredentism and territorial revisionism, stemming from persisting conflicts in memory politics and from the Hungarian government’s controversial and non-transparent approach to its neighbours. It demonstrates how the conflicting national(ist) narratives are reinforced by a lack of basic transparency, resulting from the political economy and power techniques of the ‘illiberal’ political regimes which some political scientists dub ‘the mafia state’. The article draws on insights from critical security studies, critical heritage studies and the ontological security theory.

К вопросу о линиях интерпретации феномена гражданской войны в античной философии: stasis и bellum civile

The concept of civil war remains relatively underdeveloped given a steadily increasing interest of political philosophers in the study of civil conflicts in general. The multi-layered genealogy of this notion includes elements of significantly different approaches to its definition. The two divergent lines of interpretation of the phenomenon of civil wars can be traced back to the ancient philosophy: the Greek stasis and the Roman bellum civile. In recent years, the concept of stasis is making a comeback to the academic circles due to its use in the works of Nicole Loraux, Giorgio Agamben and a number of other authors. At the same time, the dominant approach to analyzing civil wars is based primarily on their perception in line with the Roman concept, which presupposes a monistic social ontology model and has significant limitations when applied to modern conditions. In the article, the author analyzes the main features of the perception of the phenomenon of civil wars in the ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. Based on the texts of Plato and Aristotle, who elaborated the theory of stasis in the most systematic way, the author demonstrates that admitting the possibility to overcome just the extreme external manifestations of stasis (but not to eradicate it altogether) inevitably impacts the evaluation of the importance of pluralism in the life of a political community, the interpretation of the actions of the defeated party and memory politics. Hence, the author analyzes how the perception of a civil conflict as a phenomenon inherent in the life of the polis and, in one form or another, an “inevitable evil”, can again be relevant in the context of the philosophical and political discussions of the 21st century.

New Local History projects in the unofficial history of the city: The case of St. Petersburg

The problem of interpreting local history is relevant to St. Petersburg, as to many other major historical cities. This article examines phenomena united by the concepts of local (spatial) myth and urban narrative, which go beyond official discourse. Alternative images of the city, based on its concealed places of interest contrast with one of the most widespread representations of St. Petersburg – its association with the heritage of imperial culture. The selection of memorable places and stories shifts from recognizable city landmarks to other objects that reveal the history and image of particular St. Petersburg sites, people’s daily lives and peripheral issues of urban life. This approach to the exploration of urban space, a phenomenon called New Local History, is presented and explained in the article as the rediscovery of the historical potential of the city. The examples given in the article also show the possible role of New Local History in encouraging residents to develop an interest in their own history, in the problems of modernity and in participating in socially significant projects. Trends in interaction with urban space and memory practices that offer alternative interpretations of the past have been identified in various socio-cultural initiatives. In the context of Russian memory politics, this approach often becomes oppositional.

Memorial agency, heritage dissonance, and the politics of memory in the preservation of Rio de Janeiro’s Valongo slave wharf

The article aims to understand the tensions inherent to the commemoration of a difficult and conflicted past and the conservation of dissonant heritage. It explores the politics of memory and identity, and the power struggles that underscore the heritagisation process through a study of the transformation of Rio de Janeiro’s port in preparation to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. The paper uses the notion of heritage dissonance to shed light upon contemporary struggles over the interpretation of the port’s contested history and explores the debates that have surrounded the 'discovery' of archeological remains, which exposed a controversial past marked by collective amnesia. The paper identifies various actions, instruments, and strategies used by various actors to either support or undermine the project, from inertia and obstructionism to memorialisation and ritual agency. The analysis of these findings reveals the transformative potential of heritage, as an instrument of empowerment in the ideological battle over collective memory, and a tool of resistance against historical denial. It discusses the way debates over heritage have stimulated public debate, inflected the official historical narrative, and allowed the legacies of slavery to infiltrate collective consciousness. The paper concludes with a discussion of how heritage dissonance can engender actions leading to conflict mediation, thereby promoting reconciliation and dialogue, and, ultimately, societal change.

Private museum as public space: Local remembering and memory politics in Yan’an, China

Private museum as public space: Local remembering and memory politics in Yan’an, China

The special correspondents’ monuments: Melton Prior, imperial memory and the Victorian press in the shadow of the South African War, 1899–1901

This article examines Bertha Burleigh’s 1912 marble and onyx monument to the war artist Melton Prior (1845–1910) alongside a range of earlier memorials to ‘special correspondents’ in the crypt in St Paul’s Cathedral. It considers the monument in the context of significant shifts in the nature of war reportage in the early twentieth century, as new and increasingly brutal technologies and methods of war placed significant strain on romantic Victorian conceptions of conflict. Exploring the extent to which war artists such as Prior were implicated in the violence they were tasked with documenting, the article also asks how such visual reportage informed the racial politics of memory embodied in the crypt, anointing some men as imperial heroes worthy of sombre commemoration and others as ‘ungrieveable’.

Formation of a model of Azerbaijani memory policy

The author present the phenomenon of memory politics, which is a key aspect of forming and maintaining national identity, as well as determining the foreign policy priorities of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In the context of Azerbaijan, a country with a rich history and cultural heritage, the translation of memory policy plays a significant role in shaping the image of the state in the international arena. Consideration of the peculiarities of this process allows for a deeper understanding of Azerbaijan's foreign policy strategy, its interaction with other countries and international organizations, as well as the influence of historical heritage on contemporary political decisions. The export of national culture, its promotion abroad and the formation of a positive image of the country contribute to the creation of a favorable foreign policy environment. This allows the country not only to preserve its identity, but also to interact with other cultures within the global cultural space. The author presents the strategy of constructing a model of Azerbaijani cultural memory policy in foreign policy and the ways of its realization, which also serves to consolidate society and build a new model of national identity formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This model includes both a number of features characteristic of the former Soviet republics and specific provisions distinguishing the Republic of Azerbaijan. In this sense, the political and cultural processes taking place in Russia's neighboring states are of particular interest to researchers, allowing them to build a competent attitude to the current processes affecting society both in Azerbaijan and in Russia, which is home to a large Turkic-speaking population, including ethnic Azerbaijanis.

The Promise of Memory: Politics of Memory and Caste Inequality in Collective Memory Consolidation

The Promise of Memory: Politics of Memory and Caste Inequality in Collective Memory Consolidation

The impact of thin and thick truth: The limits of truth commission design in polarized societies

Dealing with the legacy of the past has become a popular demand in postconflict and posttransition countries. However, the pursuit of truth can be a divisive issue that threatens rather than promotes understanding, particularly in divided societies. Would a minimalist truth satisfy the victim-centered right to know, without disturbing delicate balances in society? This article theorizes how different designs of truth commissions impact social outcomes, contrasting two ideal types: thin truth, which gives solely individual factual knowledge, and thick truth, which produces a public report and searches for a pattern of events. We look at the case of Spain, which long used a “policy of forgetting” to deal with the crimes of the Civil War and Franco dictatorship and where the politics of memory has become a partisan issue, and embed experimental treatments into a representative survey conducted in 2021. Our findings show that restricting truth brings no advantages, as the different designs have no significant impact on the highly polarized reactions. The research has implications for policy by showing how different truth commission formats (fail to) impact on reconciliation.

Historical Past and Historical-Cultural Heritage of Buryats as Reflected in Journal ‘Sibirskie Ogni’ (1920s-1980s): Memory Politics Aspect

The aim of the article is to characterize representations of the history and historicalcultural heritage of the Buryats in the pages of the Sibirskie Ogni journal from the early 1920s to the late 1980s in the context of state memory politics. The methodological framework of the study was the field of “Memory Studies.” Conclusions were drawn about the intense ideologization of the historical past of the Buryats on the pages of the Sibirskie Ogni journal at all stages of the Soviet period, as well as the journal's disregard for Buryat heritage associated with the traditions of Buddhist East. Six stages of representation were identified. In the first stage (1920s), Buryat authors freely wrote in the journal about Buryat history, expressed historical grievances against Russia, and sought recognition of the value of Buryat historical-cultural heritage. In the second stage (1930s), only articles by Russian authors about Buryat history in a critical tone were published in the journal. In the third stage (1940s-1950s), Sibirskie Ogni journal printed articles with crushing criticism of inconvenient versions of Buryat history presented in national literature. In the fourth stage (1960s-1970s), Buryat history was not discussed at all in the journal. In the fifth stage (1980s), a flourishing of Buryat culture was proclaimed under the influence of Soviet leadership. After the collapse of the USSR, much was rethought and perceived as a historical mistake. The Sibirskie Ogni journal began publishing articles again on Buryat literary traditions, epic poetry, etc.

The Text beyond Itself: Romani Social Construction in Romanian Secret Police Files

Romanian State Secret Police (Securitate) files produced before 1989 can be accessed today through a lengthy process that requires official research authorization through a government office, the National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (Consiliul Național pentru Studierea Arhivelor Securității - CNSAS). The CNSAS General Document Fund includes large issue-related files under the umbrella of “The Gypsy Problem,” with thousands of pages of both national and county-level reports and recommendations. This paper teases out the granular documentary clues (spie, as Italian historian Carlo Ginzburg describes them) in some of the Securitate files to explore the way in which a pattern of documentary communication is built to frame Romani identity as idiosyncratically marginal, oriental, and parasitic. A particularly interesting aspect of the knowledge production imposed through these files is reflected by anecdotes that purportedly illustrate the character of the Roma. This study analyzes the relations of power built through hermeneutic devices and language choices which build “truth formulae” (Weir) that reify a particular view of Romani ethnicity, class, and gender. This archival (de)construction has implications for a long view of policy, political memory, and exclusionary societal attitudes today and in the future.

The interpenetration of Politics and Culture in Education on the Holocaust.

A monument - metal chairs from Plac Bohaterów Getta in Kraków, Poland, symbolize the absence of millions of Jews in Poland due to the Holocaust. But in Poland, there is a more horrifying symbol of the Holocaust, and that is Auschwitz. Knowledge of the uniqueness of Nazi genocide against the Jews in Auschwitz has been obvious since 1945, but the People’s Republic of Poland’s historical policy has blurred it and presented it in the context of the extermination of millions of people from different countries.[1] The fact that Auschwitz is the symbol of the Holocaust is attributable to the USA, and the President's [Carter] Commission, which gave rise to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.[2] The article aims to compare Polish [1]J. Huener, Auschwitz, Poland, and the politics of commemoration, 1945-1979 (Ohio 2003), pp. 123-127. [2] Report to the President. President’s Commission on the Holocaust, September 1979., The USHMM Institutional Archives, accession no. 2001.165.

Old Skool Spinning and Syncing: Memory, Technologies, and Occupational Membership in a DJ Community

AbstractWe show how technology and its temporal instantiations act as material‐relational mnemonic devices that provide temporal anchors for collective remembering in occupations and form the basis of what we call an 'occupational mnemonic community'. This is important because how the past is remembered shapes politics, the definition of membership and boundaries within occupations. Empirically, we focus on the occupation of DJing, an occupation that has witnessed major technological transformation. Utilizing interviews, archival research, and auto‐ethnographic data, we show how DJs’ engagement with material mnemonic devices, here, DJing technology, aligns group members’ interpretations of the past, and forms the basis of an ‘occupational mnemonic community’. In our analysis, we uncover that imagined perceptions regarding how existing group members assess the material choices of newcomers, as well as, the performative behaviours exhibiting these choices, play pivotal roles in sustaining mnemonic communities. We conclude with a discussion on occupational mnemonic processes and their effect on establishing boundaries within occupations. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the sociomaterial aspects of collective memory and its significance in understanding the politics of memory in work communities and organizations.

Sacred and Cursed Bodies: The Necropolitics in the Suharto Regime’s Politics of Memory

ABSTRACT The article investigates the Suharto rule regime’s use of necropolitics to construct Indonesia’s memory of the 1965–66 mass murders. These memory politics were based on the anti-communist myth, which was the basis of the memory formation and creation of positive and negative heroes closely related to political changes. The regime used the bodies of generals who were killed during the attempted coup for political purposes, thus permanently anchoring this image in Indonesian society’s space and memory. Herein, the image of the generals’ bodies is juxtaposed with that of the victims’ bodies, which are still cursed and excluded from official Indonesian history. These necropolitics served the Suharto regime’s various interests of power, knowledge, and the clash between sacred and cursed bodies. Thus, the generals’ and victims’ bodies enhanced Suharto’s credibility. In this context, the generals’ bodies are treated as sacred, while the victims’ bodies are considered to be cursed, but both are causative agents of the development of the regime’s historical narrative, collective memory, and national identity.

Power relations in the novel My Name is Alam by Leila S. Chudori

Exploring discursive formations in literary works allows researchers to analyze how language and discourse shape meaning, power dynamics, and cultural ideologies within a specific literary context. Understanding the discursive formations in literary works is crucial for comprehending the historical and social context in which these works were produced. This research aims to describe the forms and representations of power relations in the novel My Name is Alam by Leila S. Chudori. This is qualitative descriptive research where the data is interpreted using the genealogical and archaeological analysis methods promoted by Foucault. This method aims to uncover and understand hidden power dynamics in various aspects of human life. The research results prove that the author's statements were spread across various formations and became material for discussion. Two forms of power relations are being discussed; the first is the New Order government's practice of authoritarian power in its various policies, which limits human rights. Second, there is resistance from marginalized groups, namely political prisoners and their families. This form of resistance is an effort by marginalized groups to fight for equality and justice. The New Order government in Indonesia constructed a discourse to create a simulated space to legitimize its power within national memory politics. This simulated world is a blend of reality and fantasy constantly reproduced. As a result, the actual reality becomes obscured, and the symbols created are perceived as reality.

‘A Return, a Mirror, a Photograph’: Return Journeys, Material Culture and Intergenerational Transmission in a Greek Cypriot Refugee Family

During times of war, displaced families carry various material items that later serve as means for preserving the memories of lost homes and maintaining a sense of identity. In divided Cyprus, the use of material objects by people displaced before and during the 1974 Turkish invasion has been influenced by the opening of checkpoints between the two sides in 2003. This paper explores how different generations in my family reacted to and interpreted the rediscovery of a lost material item—a handmade mirror piece—during the return journey. It discusses how my mother located the item, photographed it, and placed its photograph in the family’s photographic archive. During the research project upon which this paper follows from, both items re-emerged through my mother’s storytelling about her experience of return, transforming the project into a form of intergenerational transmission. The paper portrays how the storytelling about the mirror piece and its photograph was interpreted differently by me and my mother, influenced by the different politics of memory. The paper also showcases the resourcefulness of refugee families in maintaining the memory of their lost homes, which simultaneously reveals their views and hopes regarding the political future of the island.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS, IMAGINED UNITY, AND MEMORY DISCOURSES

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS: POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS, IMAGINED UNITY, AND MEMORY DISCOURSES

Recounting Mussolini: the narrative of Fascism between memory and popular culture

ABSTRACT Since the 1980s, softened and positive portrayals of Fascism have become established in public debate in Italy. A key feature in this process of defascistization has been the reduction of Fascism to the cult of the Duce. This article examines how this narrative has emerged, focusing not on the politics of memory but instead on the role of the culture industry, public debate and the media. It examines three distinct but related phenomena: the ‘Mussolinization’ of Fascism in public narrative as promoted by television and other mass media; the transformation of the electoral system and political language, marked specifically by the shift from the centrality of the collective to that of authoritative and charismatic individuals; the prominent place of the figure of the hero in popular culture.

Archive, Architecture, and the Politics of Memory in Josephus’s Jewish Antiquities 12 and Antiochus III’s Edicts for Jerusalem

Abstract The essay analyzes the edicts of Antiochus III concerning Jerusalem (Ant. 12.138–46) within two contextual horizons: Ant. 12 and Jerusalem after the Fifth Syrian War. A dichotomous understanding of resistance and collaboration is inadequate to explain the dossier’s functions. Between these poles were mediation, survival, reassembly, and redrawing of boundaries. A key to each was reshaping of political memory. In Ant. 12 the dossier contributed to an archival record of benefaction, loyalty, and respect that provided precedent and warrant for imperial grant of honor, status, and privileges to Judeans in the Roman empire. In the context of Jerusalem after the Fifth Syrian War, the edicts aimed to assert material evidence of imperial beneficence and glory in place of imperial aggression and the ravages of war. They also helped position Jerusalem within the empire’s provincial urban network and furnished a script for local agency and resilience in the wake of trauma.

The Clash of Collective Memories in Postwar Chechnya

ABSTRACT Established shortly after the beginning of the Second Russo-Chechen war of 1999–2009, the Russian-backed Chechen government is actively engaged in a reinterpretation of the nation’s history. The Chechen political elite that ruled the republic during its independence (1991–1999) opposes these efforts and promotes a version of history that dominated Chechen public discourse in the 1990s. Relying on qualitative methodology, this article explores Chechen memory politics of the past three decades through these two dominant clashing interpretations. The article answers the question: What Chechen collective memories are the most contested and why?