POLITICS OF MEMORY AS A MECHANISM FOR THE FORMATION OF COLLECTIVE IDENTITY
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/2415-881x.2026.100.2.193-207
Abstract
The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the specific features of the contemporary stage of memory studies in the context of the transformation of social, cultural, and political practices of interpreting the past. It is substantiated that memory functions not only as a mechanism for preserving experience, but also as an important instrument for constructing individual and collective identity, shaping political legitimacy, and ensuring the symbolic integration of society. It is demonstrated that contemporary memory studies are grounded in the understanding of memory as a socially conditioned phenomenon, according to which recollections are formed within changing social frameworks and cultural contexts.
The evolution of memory studies is analyzed from Maurice Halbwachs’ concept of collective memory to modern transcultural and cosmopolitan approaches. It is revealed that the intensification of memory studies in the 1980s was associated with the processes of the “acceleration of memory,” the crisis of linear historical time, and the strengthening of identity politics. It is established that the contemporary stage is characterized by a transition from the monopoly of the nation-state over the interpretation of the past to the pluralization, fragmentation, and privatization of memory, represented by various social, ethnic, religious, and cultural groups.
Special attention is devoted to the interrelation between memory, history, and cultural heritage, as well as to the influence of globalization and the digital age on the transformation of memorialization mechanisms. It is proved that memory is increasingly acquiring a reflexive character, while memory politics is becoming an important instrument of cultural self-identification and social consolidation. The article concludes that contemporary memory studies go beyond nation-state narratives and focus on the multiplicity of temporal, cultural, and identity dimensions of the collective past.
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