Researching Memory and Identity in Russia and Eastern Europe

Jade McGlynn, Oliver T. Jones, Juliane Fürst, Alina Jasina-Schäfer, Margaret Comer, Tadeusz Wojtych, Roma Sendyka, Daria Mattingly, Karoline Thaidigsmann, Travis C. Frederick, Alin Coman, Jelena Đureinović, Howard Amos

This book offers a collection of innovative methodological approaches to Memory Studies in Russia and Eastern Europe. Providing insights into the relationship between memory and identity, the twelve chapters provide multidisciplinary analysis of how history is used to reinforce, remould, and reinvent national and group identities. This analysis includes a strong emphasis on interrogating the role of the researcher and the impact of methodology, exploring the field’s most pressing challenges, such as the subjectivity of remembrance, reception versus production of discourse, and the inclusion of marginal perspectives. By focussing on countries in which the past is highly politicised, including Serbia, Ukraine, Poland, Russia and the Baltic States, the volume also analyses the diverse – and often conflicting – ways in which historical narratives emerge from these states’ efforts...