Societies of Central and Eastern Europe, a region described by Kroutvor as an “anecdote” of European modernity, situated between the experience of subordination and the necessity of constantly explaining itself, have, since the collapse of the USSR, sought to construct independent narratives about their own past, particularly with regard to the period after 1945. Within this macro-region of memory, distinct models of remembering subordination have emerged.
In the process of transformation, the inescapable need to work through the trauma of dependence was also linked to the necessity of consolidating and legitimising the distinct identity of Central Europe vis-à-vis the West. In the face of Russia’s neo-imperial aggression against Ukraine since 2014, and especially after 24 February 2022, social and institutional memories, as well as memory politics, have not only restored the centrality of traumas and narratives of threat but have also been compelled to redefine the mechanisms of memory resistance and memory resilience.
In this panel, we propose analysing this process by juxtaposing theoretical reflections with examples of memory activism and memory performance practices in Central and Eastern Europe, which function as forms of resistance to Russian imperialism.
Panel „Rewriting the Past, Resisting the Empire: Memory Politics in East-Central Europe”