To Whom Does History Belong?

The Theatre of Memory in Post-Soviet Russia, Estonia and Georgia

in Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
Author:
Francisco Martínez Aalto University pacomartinez82@gmail.com

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/ajec.2017.260106
Keywords:
collective memory; historical narratives; politics of history; post-socialism; ethnography of historicity
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Abstract

This article discusses different processes of appropriation of history in three former Soviet Republics. It provides a context for the recent historical retrofitting by taking the re-monumentalisation of the past in Estonia, the popularity of pseudo-history in Russia, and the current state of the Stalin museum in Georgia as symptomatic of wider social processes. New forms of convergence are shown between the historical and the political by the replacement, emptying of meaning, and remixability of past symbols. The author concludes that the Soviet world has been put to political and communicative uses as a familiar context to refer to; also that the process of retrofitting historical narratives is not over yet in any of these societies.

Contributor Notes

Francisco Martínez, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland (pacomartinez82@gmail.com)

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Anthropological Journal of European Cultures

(formerly: Anthropological Yearbook of European Cultures)

Cover Anthropological Journal of European Cultures
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
30
Keywords:
collective memory; historical narratives; politics of history; post-socialism; ethnography of historicity
Print Publication Date:
01 Mar 2017
Online Publication Date:
01 Mar 2017
Copyright:
© The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology 2017

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