Nodes and Springs of Memory

Abstract

The edited volume Collective Memories in War (2016), published by the European Sociological Association, is released in the Studies in European Sociology series, and introduces English-speaking readers with memory research in Russia and Poland (the majority of authors is represented by these countries), as well as the Czech Republic and Ukraine. The focus of the foreign authors is the policy of history and memory of various aspects of the Second World War, while the Russian sociologists primarily analyze the collective memory of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. The theoretical and methodological bases of the research are classics of Memory Studies (M. Halbwachs, P. Nora, J. Assman), the critical theory ideas of A. Gramsci, M. Foucault, and others, some articles using the conceptions of social movements and identity, trauma, the theory of language games, habitual memory, and so on. The empirical research is made using the following qualitative and quantitative methodologies: surveys with national samples in Poland and the Czech Republic, focus groups, observation, and biographical interviews. The five sections of the book contain articles on the politics of history and historical consciousness research with an emphasis on changes since 1989, the narrating of memories, studying urban war memorials, and museums’ and veterans’ websites. Separate sections are devoted to the analysis of modern history textbooks in different countries, and to gender issues.