Eastern Europe in the era of post-communist transformation: key approaches to the study of the collective memory of the region

Abstract

The article is devoted to the modification of the collective memory of the Eastern European space in the context of the collapse of the socialist camp. The authors characterize the mnemonic landscape of Eastern Europe, paying special attention to the semantic dependence of the region on the tragic events of the XX century: the Second World War, the Cold War, the revolutions of 1989. The interrelation between the regional processes of nation-building and the collective memory of these events is demonstrated. The article analyzes the works of foreign and domestic analysts dedicated to memorable dates in the region. The focus of the researchers’ attention was mainly on the final stage of post-communist transit in Eastern Europe, in which the new national governments discussed the traumatic aspects of their own past, established memory institutions and participated in «memory wars». Special studies dealing with the problem of the modification of Eastern European commemorative trends in the 1980s still appear quite rarely. It is noted that the initial stage of the post-communist transformation has not yet become the object of a comprehensive study due to the lack of a theoretical framework suitable for studying the memorial space in the 1980s. The authors note the heuristic potential of the concept of «memory regimes» proposed by M. Bernhard and Y. Kubik. The researchers drew attention to the fact that the type of «memory regime» is inextricably linked with the political regime, which determines the configuration of actors operating in the field of memory politics. In addition, the hypothesis is put forward that the concept of «counter-memory» proposed by M. Foucault may allow for a more detailed study of alternative historical narratives that were constructed by opponents of the communist authorities during the confrontation of the 1980s, and after the collapse of the socialist camp began to dominate the memory politics of most Eastern European states. The authors conclude that the convergence of methodological approaches from the field of transitology and concepts of collective memory can open up new opportunities for studying the memorial space of the region. They are as follows: to identify the dynamics of the actors involved in the process of constructing national narratives, as well as to clarify the role of historical discourses in the strategies of activity of all parties to the confrontation of the period of democratic transit.

Keywords

• collective memory
• politics of memory
• eastern europe
• post-communist transformation
• memory regimes
• national narratives
• democratic transit