Victimhood Nationalism in the Memory of Mass Dictatorship

Lim, Jie-Hyun

doi:10.1057/9781137289834_3

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 5 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This nationalism creates (or explains) conflicts on historical views. (Hashimoto, 2014;Lim, 2010;2014;Pettai, 2011) This structure can be observed in some books that deal with area studies. For example, Hashimoto reports Estonian matters as a case study in his book by referring to a 2007 riot which took place in Tallinn between Russian residents and Estonians (Hashimoto, 2016, pp.…”

Section: Victimhood Nationalism and Its Structure 21 The Basis Of VImentioning

confidence: 86%

“…Because of these backgrounds, it seems natural that victimhood nationalism has been introduced into some area studies, such as 'Germany and Jews', 'Japan and Korea' and, more importantly for this paper, 'Russia and the Baltic area' (Lim, 2010;2014). For example, in the case of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism, many experts signed their names on the text that condemn Soviet for maltreating Baltic people.…”

Section: Victimhood Nationalism and Its Structure 21 The Basis Of VImentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Critical and Theoretical Re-imagining of ‘Victimhood Nationalism’: The Case of National Victimhood of the Baltic Region

Okawara

2019

Baltic Journal of European Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There are many arguments to support the idea that the Baltic nations (and other “victimized” areas) adhere to ‘victimhood nationalism’, a form of nationalism that explains the region’s recognition of its history and the related problems. Since the start of the 21st century, memory and area studies experts have used the concept of ‘victimhood nationalism’. However, the framework of victimhood nationalism is critically flawed. Its original conceptual architecture is weak and its effectiveness as an explanatory variable requires critical examination. This paper presents a theoretical examination of victimhood nationalism from the perspective of political and social historiology. Further, the paper criticizes the concept from the perspective of the empirical area studies of the Baltic region. First, it argues that the killing or damaging of one community by another does not automatically transform into a nationalism of victimhood. Unless it has been established that one community was the ‘victim’ and the other the perpetrator of the crime, these events will not be remembered as the basis of victimhood nationalism. Second, the effectiveness of this concept is criticized from two perspectives: “tangle” as an explanatory variable and its doctrinal history. It is tautological to claim that victimhood nationalism explains political issues, as was already being implied in the early twentieth-century collective memory studies. In conclusion, the assumption of victimhood is a preliminary necessity to a community claiming victimhood nationalism. Victimhood nationalism is not an explanatory, but an explained, variable. Therefore, the concept should be renamed otherwise. The alternative framework of collective memory studies framework of “victimhood” is needed. This research argues that Baltic area studies, particularly regarding history recognition, should be phenomenologically reconsidered to reimagine the framework of “victimhood”.

show abstract

Section: Victimhood Nationalism and Its Structure 21 The Basis Of VImentioning

confidence: 86%

Section: Victimhood Nationalism and Its Structure 21 The Basis Of VImentioning

confidence: 99%

A Critical and Theoretical Re-imagining of ‘Victimhood Nationalism’: The Case of National Victimhood of the Baltic Region

Okawara

2019

Baltic Journal of European Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our analytical lens may nonetheless be useful for research on victimhood discourses in certain dictatorships (see, e.g. Lim 2014). In sum, we hope that our approach invites other researchers to examine the processes through which populists in power seek to justify their exclusion of others.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Populist Memory Politics and the Performance of Victimhood: Analysing the Political Exploitation of Historical Injustice in Central Europe

Meijen

Vermeersch

2023

Gov. & oppos.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Right-wing populists often mobilize popular support by employing a people-versus-elite dichotomy in which they cast ‘the people’ as the underdog, or by ‘performing’ crisis to discredit the elite. Such ‘underdogism’, and the reliance on crisis more broadly, remains an effective strategy for as long as populists are in opposition. But what happens when populists gain power? One would expect that they would not be able to exploit their position as effectively and their appeal would weaken drastically. In certain cases, however, they still manage to sustain the underdog illusion. This article argues that memory politics are an important locus for populists to maintain their underdog rhetoric, and within that field the performance of victimhood is key. Building on theories about the performance of crisis and recent trends in research on memory politics in Central Europe, we propose a framework for understanding how governing right-wing populists justify vindictive policies and thus try to cement their power.

show abstract

“…Wieviorkan (1998) mukaan alkoi "todistajan aikakausi", jolloin huomio käännettiin natsirikollisten ja totalitaaristen järjestelmien toimintamekanismien tutkimuksesta vainojen uhrien tutkimukseen, jossa annettiin ääni uhrien henkilökohtaisille kokemuksille ja muistoille. Lim (2014) esittää tästä käänteestä kriittisen tulkinnan, jonka mukaan kysymys ei ollut vain muistelukerrontatutkimuksen kelpuuttamisesta "vakavan historiantutkimuksen" osa-alueeksi. Uhrinarratiivisen kerronnan omiminen ja siirtäminen uusiin konteksteihin on nimittäin johtanut sekä kansallisella että globaalilla tasolla kansallisten uhriryhmien väliseen kilpailuun siitä, kuka kärsi eniten.…”

Section: Teoria Uhrinationalismistaunclassified

Uhriutumisen politiikkaa

Parvikko

2023

Politiikka

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Artikkelissa luetaan poliittisesti italialaista historiapoliittista taistelua kansallisesta poliittisesta perinnöstä ja identiteetistä. Taistelun keskiössä ovat toisen maailmansodan päättymiseen liittyvät joukkosurmat ja niiden laukaisema joukkopako sodan seurauksena Jugoslavialle jääneiltä alueilta. Artikkelissa esitetään tulkinta, jonka mukaan oikeistopiirien ja pakolaisjärjestöjen käymä sitkeä kampanjointi on tuottanut tuloksen, jonka seurauksena koillisen rajaseudun traagiset tapahtumat on kohotettu kansallisen historian merkkipaalujen joukkoon. Artikkelissa analysoidaan teesejä ja topoksia, joihin taistelu kansallisesta poliittisesta perinnöstä perustuu. Italian koillisen rajaseudun tapahtumien historiapoliittista hyväksikäyttöä luetaan Jie-Hyun Limin esittämän uhrinationalismin teorian valossa. Uhrinationalismiin kuuluvia retorisia operaatioita ovat muistojen pyhittäminen, de- ja rekontekstualisointi sekä maaginen metamorfoosi. Niiden sitkeän toistamisen avulla pahantekijät ja heidän uhrinsa vaihtavat paikkaa, fasismin rikoksiin liittyvät poliittiset ja sotilaalliset vastuusuhteet hämärtyvät ja italialaisen kansallisen identiteetin perustaksi vakiintuu ajatus yhdessä jaetusta uhriudesta.

show abstract

Victimhood Nationalism in the Memory of Mass Dictatorship

Cited by 3 publications

References 5 publications

A Critical and Theoretical Re-imagining of ‘Victimhood Nationalism’: The Case of National Victimhood of the Baltic Region

A Critical and Theoretical Re-imagining of ‘Victimhood Nationalism’: The Case of National Victimhood of the Baltic Region

Populist Memory Politics and the Performance of Victimhood: Analysing the Political Exploitation of Historical Injustice in Central Europe

Uhriutumisen politiikkaa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About