KAĞITTAKİ KİMLİK: GÜRCİSTAN BANKNOTLARINDA TARİH, DİN VE MİLLİYETÇİLİK
IDENTITY ON PAPER: HISTORY, RELIGION AND NATIONALISM ON BANKNOTES OF GEORGIA

Summary/Abstract: This study examines the role of the symbols depicted on banknotes issued in post-independence Georgia in the reconstruction of national memory and the formation of modern Georgian identity. Banknotes are approached not merely as instruments of economic exchange, but as symbolic texts through which the state conveys historical narratives, identity politics, and frameworks of collective memory in everyday life. Employing a qualitative and interpretive methodology, the research analyses the figures and motifs represented on Georgian banknotes through iconographic and symbolic analysis within the thematic frameworks of Orthodox Christianity, the narrative of a “glorious past” and the Golden Age, pre-Soviet national identity movements, and anti-Soviet awakening. The findings demonstrate that banknote iconography in post-independence Georgia serves the symbolic rejection of the Soviet legacy while simultaneously facilitating the construction of a new national narrative grounded in historical and religious references. The centrality of Orthodox Christianity, the emphasis on medieval kingship, and the representation of national heroes render visible a selective process of remembrance in collective memory. The study further reveals that this symbolic order does not merely glorify the past but also contributes to contemporary quests for political legitimacy. Overall, the article argues that banknotes in Georgia function as everyday, material, and continuously reproduced instruments in the construction of national identity and collective memory.

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