The politics of memory in the theoretical and methodological reflection: the experience of foreign studies

There is an obvious transformation of research interests in the modern Western and Russian science from the analysis of the historical cognition and knowledge to the study of the mass historical consciousness and memory. The contradictions of global processes and in particular an intensive formation of multiethnic environments raise a question about the role of direct action of the politics of memory for the functioning of representations of the past. This actualizes the necessity of elaboration of theoretical and methodological tools. The article presents an analysis of the contemporary foreign literature about the politics of memory. The authors have distinguished the directions of its development which seem to be of great importance for the Russian society. They include the topic of rethinking and overcoming the past, associated with the period of the Second World War and, as a rule, actualized in the context of a traumatic experience. The article noted the heterogeneity of the politics of memory due to the nature of the identification strategies: either with the guilt / a victim or to remember and not to repeat again. The understanding and overcoming of ethnocentrism, ignoring any alternative or different versions of history made by various minority groups within the society and neighbors outside, may rightly be attributed to the topical problems of the politics of memory. The authors have noted that the theme of the reconciliation and overcoming of the differences in the interpretation of the past is also linked to the question of the conditions and methods of formation of the identity in a globalized world. The role of the politics of memory in the process has been analyzed on the material of different discussions about the prospects of a common European identity. The article highlights some common features inherent in modern discourses on the study of the politics of memory. Most modern studies of memory politics are case studies of specific policies in the framework of separate national and state frameworks. Usually, modern researchers do not claim to generalize the scheme and focus on individual practices. Further, for most applications it is possible to speak about a common methodological paradigm based on a constructivist approach. In this regard, of special popularity is the process-relational methodology; one of its most well-known variants is J. Olick's methodology for memory analysis. He proposes to consider collective memory as an aggregate of different social forms, spaces, practices and hierarchies that are in the process of continuous creation and re-creation. Finally, almost all the authors note the increasing diversification of policies even within one society coming both "top" down and "bottom" up to the active resistance of the mass historical consciousness and its practices of memory to official strategies.

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