Ten Years after Twenty Years After Communism: What Next in the Politics of Memory?

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

When state socialism in East Central Europe collapsed in 1989, many people expected that a host of unsettled historical issues, dividing people and countries, would be settled in the newly liberated academic and public spheres of the democratizing states. This optimistic expectation proved to be naïve, as bitter memory wars reemerged across the region. One of the most puzzling phenomena was the explosion of mnemonic conflicts over commemorating the Solidarity movement, a seemingly uncontroversial leader of anti-communist opposition in the region. To understand this phenomenon, Bernhard and Kubik designed a comparative study of mnemonic political battles over the memory of communism and its fall in seventeen countries of the region. They invited top scholars working on these countries, developed a novel theory of the politics of memory, and conducted a disciplined comparison of the newly emergent memory regimes. The 2014 book’s conceptual, theoretical, and methodological innovations attracted considerable attention among the researchers working in this area. The roundtable, composed of four scholars who engaged with the book will reflect on its role, critically assess its contributions, and propose new directions in the study of the politics of memory. This roundtable is the official submission of EEPS (East European Politics and Societies).

Sub Unit

• History: Since 1990

Chair

• Jan Kubik, Rutgers, The State U of New Jersey / U College London (UK)

Roundtable Speakers

• Violeta Davoliute, Vilnius U (Lithuania)

• George Soroka, Harvard U

• Jelena Subotic, Georgia State U

• Joanna Wawrzyniak, U of Warsaw (Poland)