Post-Soviet Russian Identity Building and Politics of Memory: Scientific and Public Discourse

Svetlana Akhundovna  Tatunts; Anastasia Mikhailovna  Ponamareva

doi:10.46398/cuestpol.3969.26

Svetlana Akhundovna Tatunts Lomonosov Moscow State University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0697-0847
Anastasia Mikhailovna Ponamareva Lomonosov Moscow State University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8370-3622

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3969.26

Keywords: post-Soviet identity, instrumentalism, constructivism, historical narrative, World War II

Abstract

The aim of the study was to examine the positions of various social groups, reflecting the controversial and contradictory aspects of the process of identity construction in post-Soviet Russia and the factor of memory politics. The article reveals the characteristics of the post-Soviet identity-building process and the related politics of memory under the century-end systemic transformation that has launched a new existential project in Russia. Collective identity is formed in a new social space: the global dichotomy of globalization and localization. Methodologically, it is a documentary research close to the analysis of discourse. The process of transition from the Soviet Union to post-Soviet space and the construction of the new state on the ruins of the socialist empire will keep the problems of a new identity and the politics of memory relevant soon. It is concluded that thirty years after the liquidation of the socialist project, the crisis of collective identity in Russia and the «battle for history» and a new Russian national unity are not over. However, persistent social atomization and conflict-triggering narratives of various socio-cultural communities and ideological groups persist.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Svetlana Akhundovna Tatunts, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Doctor of Sociology, Ph. D. in Historical Sciences, Full Professor, World Politics Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia.

Anastasia Mikhailovna Ponamareva, Lomonosov Moscow State University

Assistant Professor of International Security Department, World Politics Faculty, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. Senior Researcher, Department of European Security, Center for Scientific Information Studies of Global and Regional Problems INION RAS, Moscow, Russia.

References

ACHKASOV, Valery Alekseevich. 2015. “The role of “historical politics„ in the formation of Russian identity” In: Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology. No. 2, pp. 181-192.

ALBROW, Martin. 1996. The Global Age: State and Society beyond Modernity. Stanford University Press. Stanford, USA.

ASSMAN, Jan. 2004. Cultural memory: Writing, memory of the past and political identity in the high cultures of antiquity. Languages of Slavic culture. Moscow, Russia.

BROMLEY, Yulian Vladimirovich. 1977. Rapprochement of the social-class structure of the Soviet nations. Nauka. Moscow, Russia.

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION. 2020. Eksmo. Moscow, Russia.

DANILEVSKY, Nikolay Ya. 2008. Russia and Europe: a look at the cultural, historical and political relations of the Slavic world to the German- Roman. ABC-Classics. St. Petersburg, Russia.

DURKHEIM, Emile. 1991. On the division of social labor. Sociological methods. Nauka. Moscow, Russia.

DUTKEVICH, Petr; SAKWA, Richard. 2014. (Eds.). “Peter Katzenstein talks with Raffaele Marchetti “Understand that there is a diffusion of power and changes are constantly occurring”” In: 22 ideas on how to arrange the world: Conversations with prominent scientists. Moscow State University. Moscow, Russia.

EDELE, Mark. 2017. “Fighting Russia’s history wars. Vladimir Putin and the codification of World War II” In: History and Memory. Vol. 29, No. 2, pp. 90-124.

ERIKSON, Erik. 1968. Identity: Youth in Crisis. W. W. Norton Company. New York, USA.

FEDERAL LAW OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION No. 128-FZ. 2014. “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation”. Available online. In: http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/ View/0001201405050051?index=. Consultation date: 03/08/2020.

FREUD, Sigmund. 1993. Massenpsychologie und Ich-Analyse. Die Zukunft einer Illusion. Fischer. Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

GOFFMAN, Erving. 1974. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. Harper and Row. New York, USA.

GOFFMAN, Erving. 1963. Stigma. Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. Prentice-Hall. Englewood-Cliffs. New Jersey, USA.

GOFFMAN, Erving. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Hamondsworth Pengium. New York, USA.

HALBWACHS, Maurice. 2007. Social memory framework. Tr. by S.N. Zenkina. New publishing house. Moscow, Russia.

HEIDEGGER, Martin. 1967. Sein und Zeit. 11 Auflage. Max Niemeyer Verlag. Tübingen, Germany.

HOBSBAWM, Eric; RANGER, Terence. 1992. (Eds.). The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, United Kingdom.

HUSSERL, Edmund. 1913. Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie. Erstes Buch: Allgemeine Einführung in die reine Phänomenologie. Max Niemeyer Verlag. Halle (Saale), Germany. Available online. In: https://www.freidok.uni-freiburg.de/ fedora/objects/freidok:5973/datastreams/FILE1/content. Consultation date: 01/08/2020.

KURILLA, Ivan. 2018. Immortal regiment “:Holiday with tears in your eyes “, a parade of the dead or a mass protest? Disputes about the meaning and prospects of the new holiday ritual. Available online. In: http://www. ponarseurasia.org/ru/article_20180620_Kurilla. Consultation date: 02/08/2020.

LEVY-BRUHL, Lucien. 1999. Supernatural in primitive thinking. Pedagogy Press. Moscow, Russia.

NEWS.ru. 2013. Putin called Islam “a bright element of the Russian cultural code”. Available online. In: https://www.newsru.com/religy/22oct2013/ ufa.html. Consultation date: 03/08/2020.

OSCE COPENHAGEN COMMISSION. 1990. Document of the Copenhagen Meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Available online. In: https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/d/0/14305.pdf. Consultation date: 02/08/2020.

PAIN, E.A. 2013. “Historical fatalism in the period of stagnation” In: Bulletin of public opinion. Data. Analysis. Discussions. Vol. 115, No. 22, pp. 7-19.

PIGROV, Konstantin Semenovich. 2018. “Russian people’s selfconsciousness: national culture and mass civilization” In: EINAI: Philosophy. Religion. Culture. Vol. 7, No. 1(13), pp. 37-56.

ROBERTSON, Roland. 1992. Globalization: Social Theory and Global Culture. Sage Publications Ltd. Thousand Oaks, London, United Kingdom.

SEMENENKO, Irina Stanislavovna. 2017. (Ed.). Identity: Personality, society, politics. Encyclopedic edition. Ves Mir Publishing House. Moscow, Russia.

ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA. 2013. Speech By Vladimir Putin At A Meeting Of The Valdai Club. 2013. Available online. In: https://rg.ru/2013/09/19/ stenogramma-site.html. Consultation date: 02/08/2020.

TITOV, Victor Valerievich. 2017. The policy of memory and the formation of national-state identity: Russian experience and new trends. Printing House “Vash Format”. Moscow, Russia.

TORBAKOV, Igor. 2014. “Divisive Historical Memories: Russia and Eastern Europe” In: Confronting Memories of World War II: European and Asian Legacies. Eds. Daniel Chirot, Gi-Wook Shin and Daniel Sneider. University of Washington Press. Seattle, USA.

YADOV, Vladimir A. 1994. “Social identification in a crisis society” In: Sociological journal. No. 1, pp. 35–52.