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Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s
Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s–2010s

by Georgiy Kasianov

Central European University Press, 2022

ISBNs

Cloth: 978-963-386-380-0

eISBN: 978-963-386-685-6 (ePub)

eISBN: 978-963-386-381-7 (PDF)

About the Book

This account of historical politics in Ukraine, framed in a broader European context, shows how social, political, and cultural groups have used and misused the past from the final years of the Soviet Union to 2020. Georgiy Kasianov details practices relating to history and memory by a variety of actors, including state institutions, non-governmental organizations, political parties, historians, and local governments. He identifies the main political purposes of these practices in the construction of nation and identity, struggles for power, warfare, and international relations.

Kasianov considers the Ukrainian case in the context of a global increase in the politics of history and memory, with particular emphasis on a distinctive East-European variety. He pays special attention to the use and abuse of history in relations between Ukraine, Russia, and Poland.

About the Author

Georgiy Kasianov is Head of the Department of Contemporary History and Politics at the Institute of History of Ukraine, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He is an author, co-author and co-editor of more than twenty books on the history of Ukraine in the 19th–21th centuries.

Reviews
''The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has not only triggered a new wave of interest in the history of Eastern Europe. It has also generated a strong new impulse for the political instrumentalization of history, the reshaping of memory practices, and the development of historical consciousness by the parties to the conflict — processes that will likely intensify as the conflict continues. It is evident that studying these processes in Ukraine requires a deep understanding of the historical context, the logic of action of memory-policy actors, and an analysis of the specific features of previous history politics. Precisely for this reason, it is important and necessary to engage with Georgiy Kasianov’s monograph.''
— Dmytro Tytarenko, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas , 72, 2024 [translated from German]
Tags
Historical Studies in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, 1991-2014, Eastern, Government policy, Russia, Foreign relations, Historiography, Study and teaching, Politics, Politics and government, Europe, History
Open Access Information

Label: Opening the Future

License: OA CC BY-NC-ND