Introduction

In search of lost time: Memory politics in Estonia, 1991-2011

“…As emphasized at the beginning, I focused only on the national aspect of memory politics, which means that various forms of counter-memory (Davis and Starn 1989;Young 1999) were left aside. Nor did my analysis involve the party-political dimension of memory politics; that is I did not Nationalities Papers examine which political forces stood behind one or another memory-political decision.…”

Resurrected pigs, dyed foxes and beloved cows: Religious diversity and nostalgia for socialism in rural Poland

“…Drawing on the approach of Davis and Starn (1989), I inquire into how 'the private sphere and the practices of everyday life define and conserve alternatives to the official memory of public historiography ' (1989: 5) and ask by whom, where, in which context, and against what nostalgic memories are invoked (Davis and Starn (1989):2). I argue that people who disagree with a blackand-white view on socialism -who do not deny the difficulties but who also recall various positive aspects of those times -do not necessarily relate solely to the past in doing so.…”

Protection, Political Exile, and the Atlantic Slave Trade: History and Collective Memory in Dahomey

“…If we accept that both are constructed entities, we may consider the tension between them to be productive rather than at odds. 18 A case in point is the relationship of individual memory, long considered a legitimate source for historians, and collective memory. An individual memory is subject to change and is dependent on time and place, in effect having a history of its own, which of course is true of collective memory, or ideas about the past that are popularly shared in a society.…”