The use of history in Russia 2000–2011: the Kremlin and the search for consensus

Gjerde, Kristian Lundby

doi:10.1080/21599165.2015.1035779

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(3 reference statements)

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“…To create a consolidating narrative, the Kremlin started to borrow from 'mutually exclusive understandings of Russian history' (Gjerde, 2015: 149). These attempts at reaching a societal consensus have had, according to Gjerde (2015), the opposite effect: they have led to the perpetuation and amplification of 'the very division' that the authorities wished to overcome (p. 149). Miller (2012) describes these efforts of the Kremlin as a 'historical politics', or memory politics, that in the context of Eastern European nondemocratic states amounts to the usage of the past for political purposes, that is, as a tool to mobilise the population around the leader and strengthen the regime.…”

Section: The Functioning Of Search Engines and The Politicisation Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Soviet leader's crimes (e.g. political repression, forced relocations of whole ethnic groups) are not denied by the Kremlin, but are also not emphasised in the country's memory politics (Gjerde, 2015). Accordingly, the fact that thousands of people were crushed to death in the crowds of mourners at Stalin's funeral is absent from the dominant media discourse.…”

Section: Four Types Of Memory Events: Representation In the Dominant mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Querying the Internet as a mnemonic practice: how search engines mediate four types of past events in Russia

Zavadski

Toepfl

2018

Media, Culture & Society

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In the digital memories literature, the practice of searching for information – one of the most frequent online activities worldwide – has received comparatively little attention. To fill the gap, this exploratory study asks how search engines affect the representations of the past that they produce in query results. Designed as a single revelatory case study, with a focus on Russia, this article delineates a typology of four types of memory events based on four types of websites dominating search results. For each type of event, we discuss recurring locations and mechanisms of power struggles over competing memory narratives. We conclude that within Russia’s authoritarian context, the mnemonic practice of Internet searching tends to reproduce and reinforce the dominant narratives supported by the ruling elites. Search engine companies are thus only one of several powerful institutions that constitute the social framework within which querying the Internet is pursued as a mnemonic practice. Others include mass media, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and online encyclopaedias.

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Section: The Functioning Of Search Engines and The Politicisation Of mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Four Types Of Memory Events: Representation In the Dominant mentioning

confidence: 99%

Querying the Internet as a mnemonic practice: how search engines mediate four types of past events in Russia

Zavadski

Toepfl

2018

Media, Culture & Society

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“…In response to the alleged “negative” history-writing of the 1990s, Putin explained that the new books were meant to “help raise young people in the spirit of pride for their fatherland and its history” (quoted in Sherlock 2007, 172). In short, history was again to play a “constructive,” positive role in the nation-building project (Gjerde 2015). 10…”

Section: Phase 2: Reviving Patriotism (The 2000s)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Russkiias the NewRossiiskii? Nation-Building in Russia After 1991

Blakkisrud

2022

Nationalities Papers

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Russia’s post-1991 nation-building project has been torn between competing interpretations of national identity. Whereas the other former Soviet republics opted for nation-building centered on the titular nation, Russia’s approach to national identity was framed by the fact that the RSFSR had been defined not as a designated national homeland but as a multi-ethnic federation. This, coupled with Russia’s definition as the legal successor of the Soviet Union, suggesting continuity and a history of uninterrupted statehood, has enabled a range of rivaling understandings of how to define the “nation.” Focusing on top-down official nation-building, this article examines how, against a backdrop of shifting political contexts, structural constraints, and popular attitudes, the Kremlin has gradually revised its understanding of what constitutes the “Russian nation.” Four models for post-Soviet Russian nation-building are identified – the ethnic, the multi-national, the civic, and the imperial. Over time, the correlation of forces among these has shifted. The article concludes that, despite some claims of an ethno-nationalist turn after 2014, the Kremlin still employs nationalism instrumentally: National identity has undoubtedly become more russkii-centered, but, at the same time, the Kremlin keeps the definition of “Russianness” intentionally vague, blurring the boundaries between “nation” and “civilization.”

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“…2 Most states craft idealized accounts of their pasts. For the contemporary Russian state, "history" is a domain from which details are harvested, retrospectively projected, airbrushed out, or otherwise politicized (Gjerde 2015;Pearce 2020). Censorship was well advanced when it was announced that a "Commission to Counteract Attempts to Harm Russia's Interests by Falsifying History" would "analyze information […] aimed at diminishing the international prestige of the Russian Federation and report such incidents to the president" (President of Russia 2010).…”

Section: Greatnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political Imagery and the Russia-Germany-America Triangle

Wood

2022

Nationalities Papers

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The material dimension of Russian foreign and domestic policy is accompanied by one of images and performativity. The Putin regime has affective-emotional and instrumental motives. Its main target audience is the Russian public. Its principal adversary is the United States. The decisive external audience is the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), a pluralist entity that is also concerned with past and present images of itself. Politics in this critical international triangle is infused with theatrical, mediatized, and psychological elements, and the (re)construction of national and individual personae.

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The use of history in Russia 2000–2011: the Kremlin and the search for consensus

Cited by 16 publications

References 15 publications

Querying the Internet as a mnemonic practice: how search engines mediate four types of past events in Russia

Querying the Internet as a mnemonic practice: how search engines mediate four types of past events in Russia

Russkiias the NewRossiiskii? Nation-Building in Russia After 1991

Political Imagery and the Russia-Germany-America Triangle

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