Politics of Memory in Cities Divided by State Borders: Theoretical and Methodological Framework of Research

Abstract

In the article the author attempts to outline theoretical and methodological framework used in analyzing the phenomenon of specific history politics in cities divided by state borders – places where sometimes radically different history narrations meet or even clash. The article is composed of three parts. The first one specifies the concept of history politics in nationwide dimension (“history politics”). The second part analyzes history politics in local dimension (“local politics of memory”). With reference to these two concepts – levels of history politics and politics of memory – the author indicates: goals, subjects, methods and tools of history politics/politics of memory. The final section of the paper aims at capturing the specificity of history politics in cities divided by state borders and indicating models of relations between different kinds of politics of memory in cities divided by state borders.

Keywords

• cities divided by state borders
• history politics
• politics of memory
• collective memory